South African Chamber of Commerce (UK)

Business & Community Awards 2019

Date
15th May 2019

Venue
Millennium Gloucester Hotel

Website
www.millenniumhotels.com

"Outstanding efforts deserve reward and recognition"

Awards

South African Community Support Award

Ilana Friedman

Ilana Friedman is an advocate for children’s rights, with a passion for early childhood education and development; the most informative, foundation phase years in a human’s lifetime, with a focus on education through play & imagination. She is the founder, fairy godmother & Chief Operating Fairy at Magical Moments, a unique non-profit organisation creating “Magical Moments & Extraordinary Days” for hundreds of thousands of abused, abandoned, disadvantaged, impoverished, neglected, orphaned and vulnerable children in the greater Johannesburg region.

For almost 20 years, parallel to Magical Moments, Ilana has been actively involved in personal development and transformation, facilitated and assisted on life changing workshops. As the QuintEssential FairyGodmother Extraordinaire, she incorporates four decades of a myriad careers, including these magical experiences into her coaching methodology as an executive leadership life coach in her business Sublime Satori; utilising her broad based knowledge of human behaviour and the impact of early childhood in the development of a human’s lifetime.

Claire Roadley

Claire Roadley is a proud South African who has lived in the UK for the past 18 years having been born and bred in Benoni. Claire feels extremely privileged to be able to promote South Africa on a daily basis through her public relations role at Ethos Marketing. Ethos represents a number of South African tourist products such as the iconic Blue Train, Fancourt and MalaMala Game Reserve, to name a few, allowing Claire to regularly visit South Africa hosting journalists or tour operators, and showcasing things she loves most about South Africa. Claire with her friend Ananda set up the “SAFFA Moms on West Sussex Facebook group” together a few years ago and now have over 340 members. They arrange regular events from movie nights to cocktail dinners to kids Christmas craft parties so that mothers can feel less isolated and find their local “tribe” or friendship groups.

Ilana Friedman

Illana Friedman is the founder, fairy godmother & Chief Operating Fairy at Magical Moments, a registered NGO. Ilana, through her charity “puts smiles on little faces, treats in little tummies & tickles little taste buds” – assisted by a forest of Magical Fairies (volunteers), who fly in, create magic, leaving behind love, hugs & kisses, tickles and cuddles and a sprinkling of magical fairy dust and undoubtedly, imprints in the children’s lives. Magical Moments Fairies are “Guardians of Unconditional Love, Kindness, Compassion & Gentleness. It is imperative that they take children who live in poverty of everything, out of their bleak and dismal environments and show them that a world, so vastly different to their own, exists.” A strong professional, Ilana is a qualified Ontological Coach focused in Personal Development, Transformation and Human behaviour for over 15 years, with a primary focus and passion for Early Childhood Development (ECD), Early Childhood Learning (ECL) and Early Childhood Education (ECE) through Wonder Based Learning.

Dali Ed Mkoyana

Dalicebo founded a small UK based community organisation, the Dali’s HEN, (H- Health, E- Education & N- Nutrition). This organisation aims to tighten relations between U.K. Youth & SA Youth. He visited, organised and donated foot kits to SA schools. For his 10th birthday, he had no celebration and instead went to join other kids in the Eastern Cape doing charity work promoting the value and the importance of education. He has partnered Hertfordshire school in the UK with Lusikisiki school in the Eastern Cape. The students in each school are writing letters to each other to keep their relationship going and they’re also participating in Skype sessions which have encouraged the kids to see each other and share educational values. He has also donated many gifts that benefited both the children and the adults in a church at Mfundisweni.

Francine Higham

Originally from the Eastern Cape and living now in the UK for over 11 years, Francine Higham has played an active role in the SA diaspora community since getting involved in the campaign to provide access to voting for South Africans abroad in 2008. From there she went on to become a founding member of the DA Abroad in 2009 and has served as a volunteer for this organisation ever since, being elected as the DA Abroad Leader in 2016. A role she currently serves. Francine has played an integral role in campaigns for the benefit of all South Africans abroad such as increased access to voting abroad, the loss of citizenship campaign and more. Outside of this Francine supports other diaspora organisations in the UK wherever possible, hosting and attending community-building events and raising funds for South Africans charities. For 4 years, Francine has organised the annual Heritage Day Bring & Braai for South Africans in Wimbledon Park which has an attendance of over 500 people. For the last two years this Francine partnered with the SA Diaspora Ubunye Trust to jointly organise the event. The event is free to attend and all profits are shared equally between two charities – the SA Diaspora Unity Trust and Starfish Greathearts Foundation UK.

Awarded to:

An individual who has made a significant contribution to their community through their dedication and personal effort.

The candidate has:

Passion
Commitment
Selflessly supported South Africans in the UK/SA
Delivered consistency and continuity

The judges will be looking for evidence of:

Achievement and recognition within their community
Support for the South African community in the UK/SA
Delivering to all without question of diversity differences
Possibly having focused on a specific minority or prejudiced group
Given willingly without expectation of reward

Sponsored by

Rising Star of the Year

Byron McNally

Byron McNally is South African born BAFTA nominated Producer based in London working across commercial, digital content and drama. Byron is experienced in planning, executing and managing complex pre and post-production schedules and delivering projects on time and on budget. Byron has excellent interpersonal and communication skills and is passionate about delivering exceptional, thought-provoking content. Byron is the winner of Oscar Qualifying Galway Film Fleadh for latest short film, “Wren Boys” which was subsequently nominated for a BAFTA, BIFA, and in competition at the BFI London Film Festival, Sundance, SXSW & Flickerfest amongst other Academy recognised festivals around the world.

John Gilbert

John Gilbert’s professional career started as a Data Analyst and quickly progressed to owning a commercial cleaning business in the heart of East Anglia. Not long afterwards John was asked to join The Racing Centre as centre manager to and implement change to save the charity. The Charity was established to help support racing and the wider Newmarket community. In the time John has been involved with the charity it has managed to reduce its deficit of £156k in a quarter and has now become a leader in community matters. The charity has become dementia friendly and received awards (Bronze) from the Green Tourism board. They have also started delivering computer courses (fully funded) at the centre and will develop these throughout the year to come. The charity recently hosted two South African jockeys for a training session and hopefully have developed their fitness and technique to give them the competitive advantage back in SA.

Lauryn Gina Chidoni

Lauryn Chidoni is focused on using digital technology to deliver transformation and drive innovation. She is currently working at Unilever accelerating digital and ecommerce growth for the UK business. Her experience has focused on digital advisory and capability building for a portfolio of global brands including Warner Bros., Unilever, Nestle and Estée Lauder. In 2017 she completed her MBA at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, where she received a Dean’s Commendation for outstanding contribution to the school community. She was also a finalist in the MBA Star category for the UK Women of the Future 2018 Awards.

Mellissa Mallaya-Pandya

Mellissa Mallaya-Pandya is one half of the Mystic Sisters, a household name in South Africa. For the past 20 years, they have won the hearts of many. Part of their journey has included writing a book which reached the best selling list in SA, hosting numerous radio shows, appearing as regular guests on tv and radio talk shows, writing regular columns for national magazines and newspapers. Mellissa also runs a group on Facebook called ‘Saffa Sisterhood’ where South African women around the world can feel at home, share their lives on a safe and fun platform and feel safe to reach out to someone. Currently Mellissa coordinates corporate wellness and mindfulness days. This includes cultural integration at your workplace as well as right sizing companies and vision journal workshops. Mellissa is in the process of planning a new series of empowerment workshops to be run in London and South Africa, and will also be introducing “mindfulness in the classroom” to schools.

Byron McNally

Awarded to:

An individual who displays great potential in new or existing business or industry; who has been seen to recently stand out from their peers as a result of their personal effort. This is an individual of any age or a business or effort of any nature.

The candidate has:

Exceptional talent
Rapid achievement
Achieved recognition or shown leadership
Been an inspiration to others in and outside of their industry

The judges will be looking for evidence of:

Challenges that they have faced and overcome
Evidence of hard work and determination that continues to place them on an upwards trajectory
An ability to become a significant contributor to their organisation and/or the wider business community

Sponsored by

Micro Business Award

Catherine Farrant

Catherine founded Ossa Organic, a food brand specialising in gut healing and restorative foods after discovering the benefits of bone broth whilst she was pregnant with her first son, Jack. After a full day’s work as a partner an investment firm in central London and without a laptop, Catherine grew her business in the late evening hours only using her mobile phone. During this time Catherine would go to her local butcher to collect organic used bones to make the nourishing and healing broth at home. Now three years on this principle of upcycling remains at the heart of Ossa’s all sustainable supply chain. Catherine’s vision is to move toward tradition and away from trend when it comes to food, believing that every meal can be used as an opportunity to nourish your body. Founded in her home kitchen three years ago, Catherine maintains a strong focus on tradition and all organic, all natural and sustainable production and business growth. As a mother of two, entrepreneur and CEO of a B Corporation, Catherine has left her corporate position to grow her business and pursue her dream of being a voice for gut health in the UK.

Gina Blewett

Gina is a Portfolio Director and Consultant Accountant operating through Anumerate Limited, an accounting and consulting practice. Services include onshore/offshore directorships, a wide range of specialist accounting services and outsourced solutions, including whitelabel service offerings to other firms and accounting services to international conglomerates with UK business interests. Gina’s portfolio currently includes services to asset managers in the UK, Netherlands and BVI including a tech start-up in the asset management sector as well as a number of other companies across a wide range of sectors. Gina is a Qualified Accountant and started her career over 20 years ago in audit with PwC and Deloitte specialising in Financial Services. She is a Certified Investment Fund Director with the Irish Institute of Banking and is currently completing a Fintech Programme with Oxford University.

Catherine Farrant

Daniel Greenberg

Daniel is the founder and CEO of Lexsynergy, which provides domain name and online brand protection services worldwide. Since its beginnings in 2007, Lexsynergy has expanded its operations to key markets such as Europe, United States, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya. Daniel has focused on creating a niche for Lexsynergy within the African namespace with the result that Lexsynergy is a leader in African domain name management and online brand protection enforcement globally. Lexsynergy drafts domain name complaints, domain name strategies and implements take downs to remove websites and social media account that infringe upon Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). Daniel is an admitted South African attorney and UK solicitor with over 17 years of experience of Intellectual Property and Domain Name Law. Daniel has a 100% success rate in UDRP and other similar complaints representing companies such as BP, Standard Bank, Bidvest, Sanlam and Sasol. Daniel is the co-author of the legal textbook Cyberlaw@SAII.

Sugendran Govender

Sugendran Govender moved to the UK from South Africa in 2007, and in august 2016 took over the family run dental practice Stamford House Dental Practice, growing it and gaining a reputation as a practice that delivers excellence. Thanks to his continuous professional development Sugendran is able to offer advanced treatment to his patients and has featured in the local media for ground breaking work – extracting teeth from a new-born baby (3 days old), offering implants in surgery and for his input to an article addressing the “Selfie Generation in the UK” wanting excessively white teeth and the effects of bleaching teeth. Living in the UK, Sugendran has provided support and care to many South Africans living in the UK and currently supports many churches and black empowerment initiatives in South Africa. Locally, he is an active supporter of the Axminster Rotary Club and hosts the Annual Macmillan Cancer coffee morning at his Stamford House Dental Practice.

Awarded to:

An individual owns, runs or has a significant influence on a micro business or activity in the UK that is South African led or serving the South African community in the UK or SA.

The candidate has:

Differentiated from competitors through products / services
Shown leadership and innovation
Has focused on a specific customer need
Shown ingenuity and courage

The judges will be looking for evidence of:

A business that is sustainable
Evidences competent managerial leadership
Currently employing staff or has the potential to employ additional staff
Possibly having a potential for further growth
Delivers value to customers

Sponsored by

Entrepreneur of the Year

Samantha Collen

Samantha Collen is the owner and Marketing Director at JenniDezigns Clothing. Passionately growing the JenniDezigns brand, Samantha wants to make sure no one misses out on the fun, quirky yet classical styles they create! Established in 2015, JenniDezigns is a mother-daughter duo; Jenny (the dezigner) and Samantha, who share a passion for allowing children to be children and to dress like children. Their love of South African ShweShwe prints & classic children’s clothing styles is what makes a JenniDezign Original, with each dezign is given its very own African name. JenniDezign’s current range is aimed at children aged 1-9 years, where every day is an occasion to get dressed for. The range includes practical every day and party wear. All made to the highest quality to ensure comfort and durability for active children. JenniDesign works together with a collection of local suppliers and manufacturing partners to develop a truly proudly South African product!

Samantha Collen

Lali Dangazele

Lali Dangazele is an actress, known for Society (2007), When We Were Black (2006) and A Place Called Home (2006). She found household recognition for her role of mousy drug dealer’s daughter Nkhensani Tshinawa in the e.tv soapie Rhythm City from 2007. Lali launched ShakeXperience which provides unique experiential learning opportunities that can benefit people of all ages and backgrounds. In schools across South Africa, this unique style of learning not only prepares learners for their final exams, but by inspiring them through the Arts they face an academic life driven by creative study methods. In the corporate world this same method translates to capacitating teams and, motivation with regards to their work. Lali is currently a studying for a PhD at the University of Warwick.

Hannelie Rupert

Hanneli Rupert is a South African entrepreneur and retailer who founded the chic, African concept store, Merchants on Long, which houses a curated selection of luxury, hand-crafted products and designs sourced entirely from the African continent, as well as designs from her own ethical luxury handbag range Okapi in 2010. A dedicated ethical fashion supporter, Hanneli’s emphasis on sustainability and fair labour practices is reflected in the production of her handbag range. Launched in 2008, all elements of the Okapi bag are produced in South Africa and entirely traceable from source to end product. All brands stocked at Merchants on Long are vetted for their ethical and sustainable practices. Prior to launching Okapi, Hanneli worked as an event organiser at L’Ormarins Queens Plate, a sports venue located in Cape Town. The designer graduated from Wimbledon School of Art in 2007 with a bachelor’s of arts honours degree.

Gerhard Perold

I am Gerhard Perold, the great grandson of Abraham Izak Perold, a South African chemist and viticulturist who was responsible for developing the Pinotage grape hybrid by crossing the French varietals Pinot Noir with Cinsault. (This was apart from the other 177 grape varieties he introduced into South Africa!). Abraham, who originally studied mathematics, physics and chemistry, then went on to gain his Ph.D in chemistry. On his return to South Africa from Germany and France, he eventually became the very first Professor of Viticulture at the University of Stellenbosch. Time has seen the popularity of Pinotage rise and fall, but despite the flaws of the grape often pointed out by its critics; Pinotage has more than come into its own ever since the wind of political change in South Africa and the end of apartheid saw the opening up of the world wine markets, with Pinotage often commanding higher prices than any other South African grape. I have taken my obsession with Perold’s work and made it my own life’s goal to bring not only the Pinotage but also the best of South African wines to the UK and to the world.

Awarded to:

An individual who has achieved outstanding success in their own business venture or one wherein they have a significant influence and interest (equity or similar).

The candidate has:

Differentiated themselves by exhibiting exceptional moral compass and integrity
Shown innovative thought leadership
Inventiveness and creativity
Courage and tenacity

The judges will be looking for evidence of:

Leadership in their industry or field of expertise
Creativity in growing their business
Inspiring networking and collaboration opportunities

Sponsored by

Innovator of the Year

Ludré Stevens

Ludré Stevens is a Technology Entrepreneur and Innovator, with over 18 years’ experience in the banking and fintech sectors, and the founder and Chief Product Officer of INBOTiQA. The idea for Inbotiqa was seeded when Ludré’s boss at Morgan Stanley asked him to assist with solving their Business-Email-problem and later leading him to resign, raise an initial £50k in seed capital, and convince his co-founder Vishal Shanbhag to join him in tackling the problem for the whole industry. Inbotiqa brings together the very best of email, with the very best of work-flow, to create “Intelligent Business Email” software. The main principle is to structure the unstructured chaos that is email, where every email is tracked to completion, thereby reducing operational and financial risk, with valuable business intelligence. They allow people to focus on high value work, rather than managing inboxes.

Lewis Pugh

Lewis Pugh was the first person to complete a long-distance swim in every ocean of the world. Over a period of 30 years he has pioneered swims in the most challenging environments on earth and developed an understanding of the beauty and fragility of life and its many ecosystems. In 2007 he undertook the first long-distance swim across the North Pole to highlight the melting of the Arctic sea ice. He followed this up with a swim across a glacial lake on Mt Everest to draw attention to the melting glaciers in the Himalayas. Last year he became the first person the swim the length of the English Channel.In 2010 Lewis was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. In 2013 the United Nations chose him as the first UN Patron of the Oceans. Most recently he was appointed an Adjunct Professor of International Law at the University of Cape Town.

Ludré Stevens

Babette Brown

Babette Brown was the founder of Persona Dolls and the author of several books on early learning and child development. She was born and raised in South Africa, before making her home in the UK after being forced into political exile due to her opposition to Apartheid. Babette’s premise was that racism and prejudices are learned attitudes, and that they are learned far earlier than most people would expect. Babette’s unique and innovative approach was to harness the children’s imaginations and their love for stories. She created dolls of many different ethnicities and types, who would tell their stories through the teacher. The children are encouraged to participate in offering advice and solutions to the experiences the doll describes. This approach is a practical and an non-threatening way to deal with difficult issues. The dolls are made in South Africa, providing community employment, and thousands of teachers are now trained each year to use the Persona Dolls approach.

Akhona Mahlati

Akhona Mahlati is the CEO of BusinessFit, principal strategist and director for Ewe Sana Marketing and Communications, and a member of the Durban Entrepreneurs Club Leadership Committee. Akhona holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Marketing and Business Management from the University of KwaZulu-Natal as well as a Strategic Marketing Certificate awarded by the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business. Through the years Akhona has gained considerable experience in a number of relevant business spheres which make him an asset within any directing and leading environment. His business experience, gained in both the corporate working network across South Africa, as well as a business owner and operator in the provinces of Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, make him an invaluable resource. Akhona believes business and life in general, is about adding value to other people, and in keeping things simple and not to over complicate them.

Awarded to:

An individual who consistently proves to be at the cutting edge of his/her field and employs new technologies to spur growth.

The candidate has:

Creativity
Imagination
Vision

The judges will be looking for evidence of:

Innovation and the methods used to implement
The candidate’s contribution which has led to growth and success
How innovations have led to tangible benefits

Sponsored by

SA - UK Trade Award

Rob Cannavo

A former South African Trade Diplomat, with overseas assignments in Angola, Italy, and the UK, where Rob served as Trade Commissioner in London up until the end of 2010. He then served as a Special Advisor to the UKTI team in South Africa, while supporting key initiatives between the UK and SA. In this role, Rob established the first ever BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) Bilateral Partnership with the National Empowerment Fund (NEF) in SA, and the first ever BP ED Fund, amongst numerous others. He is also registered with the Financial Services Board in South Africa, and is an authorised and regulated FSP. Rob advises and supports Multinationals & SME’s to gain access to key opportunities across all sectors of Southern Africa; including: Defence, Oil & Gas, Mining, Finance, Energy, and assisting companies to navigate the understanding of BEE legislation. He continues to promote bilateral initiatives to boost winning partnerships across Southern Africa.

Rob Cannavo

Ed Harkins

Ed is a Managing Director at GKB Ventures. He has 19 years’ experience of working in structured export finance. He started his career as a solicitor at Simmons & Simmons specialising in cross border transactions and then moved to Barclays Capital where he was head of emerging markets on the Capex Financing Solutions team. Focusing on Africa he led numerous transactions advising exporters helping to secure large transformational contracts. Most notable was the NMS Infrastructure Ghana Hospital transaction which won many awards including GTR and the FT’s, Banker Magazine, “Deal of the Year”. After leaving Barclays, and before joining GKB, he advised UKEF on their Direct Lending programme. He is also chair of the Financial Services Committee for the Business Council for Africa and a judge for the UK National Export Excellence awards.

Charles Henzi

Charles Henzi is a seasoned human resources practitioner having worked in several senior roles within diverse sectors, including high profile global enterprises. He is motivated by the need to create, “A world of work which provides purpose and inspiration for all, namely, highly engaged people taking self-inspired action …for Results!” Charles is a member of the DRG Outsourcing team and serves as Service Line Leader: Employee Investment. At DRG Outsourcing, a leading human capital advisory service provider operating within a broad diversity of sectors, Charles has had the opportunity to develop new approaches. This activity has also provided Charles with a broad selection of case studies from which to draw on in facilitating practical, effective leadership interventions. In reflecting on his own leadership style, Charles says that he prefers to collaborate with others. “I enjoy creating a working environment that enables people to grow their skills set, confidence and capacity to take on greater responsibilities.”

Awarded to:

An individual or a business which is being recognised for their outstanding achievement in delivering increased trade in products and services between South Africa and the United Kingdom.

The candidate has:

Sound international business acumen
Actively promoted trade between the two countries
Innovatively found solutions to creating new trade activities

The judges will be looking for evidence of:

Growth and sustainability of their trade between the two countries, whichever direction
Finding new and innovative trade deliverables
Sustainable trade solutions
Possibly used and influenced other businesses or support services in the supply chain being delivered

Sponsored by

Lifetime Giving Back Award

Kathi Scott

Kathi Scott is the Executive Director of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund UK. She helped establish the UK office of NMCF UK in 1996 and has steered its extensive contribution to the work of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund since then. Born and educated in Northern Ireland, Kathi has a background in media, sports management and development. She is also a volunteer and mentor for a number of UK charitable organisations. Along with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, she is a passionate supporter of the Integrated Education Fund in Northern Ireland and the Miss Dorothy.com Learning Programme. In 2007 Kathi was named as a Kids Taskforce Champion with an award presented at the House of Commons in recognition of her work with children and young people in the United Kingdom. In 2013, Kathi received the “Friend of South Africa” award at the South African Achievers Awards, and an International Ambassador award with Ladies of All Nations 2017

Kathi Scott

Duduzile Sokhela

Duduzile Sokhela was born in Gauteng (South Africa). She is a resident of Tshwane (Pretoria), a lecturer in the Department of Social Work at the University of South Africa (UNISA). She wrote a chapter on “Social Work in 42 Objects (and more)”, a book curated by Prof Mark Doel. Prior to joining the Department of Social Work, she worked for ICAS Southern Africa as a telephone Counsellor, and also as a Private Social Worker in private practice. During 2007-2009, she worked for Child Welfare Pretoria at a Community based office in Atteridgeville, and later worked for Mental Health Society in Laudium, SANCA and Pretoria Care for Aged from 1997-2007. Duduzile is also involved in community engagement charitable courses in the sphere of Arts, Drama and Poetry as well as Creative Writing. Furthermore, she is passionate about women’s empowerment initiatives geared towards empowering women with all skills for lifelong learning. She is currently busy with her PhD Studies.

Louise van Rhyn

Dr Louise van Rhyn is a social entrepreneur, who believes the worlds’ intractable problems can be solved through cross-sector collaboration and a solid understanding of complex social change. Her approach to change is shaped by more than 30 years of working as an Organisational Change and Leadership Development practitioner. Louise launched Partners for Possibility in 2010, an innovative national building and leadership development process for business and school leaders. The focus of their partnership is to lead positive change in an under-resourced school. So far more than 2,000 leaders across South Africa have benefited from the programme. Leaders report that they learn more about leadership from working with a school in an under-resourced community than attending a course at a business school.

Gary Lubner

Gary was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Belron in 2000. In his 29-year career at Belron, Gary has helped to transform the company into the worlds leading vehicle glass repair and replacement group serving in several senior positions including Managing Director of Autoglass® the Group’s UK business between 1995-1999 and COO of Belron responsible for its European operations. During his tenure as CEO, Belron has grown sales and profits five times and expanded into new products, geographies, lines of business and service delivery models. Prior to Belron, Gary spent nine years at PGSI in South Africa in several executive positions including Managing Director of PG Masterfit. Early in his career Gary qualified a Chartered Accountant at Arthur Andersen. He has an MBA from the London Business School and is a graduate of the University of Cape Town. Gary is a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Legacy Trust.

Awarded to:

An individual who has made a real difference to a group of people in South Africa through charitable work over an extended period.

The candidate has:

Vision for change
Passion for people and their chosen charitable objectives
Shown inspirational leadership
Has given of time, money and / or effort to make a difference
Evidenced selflessness

The judges will be looking for evidence of:

How lives have been touched or changed
Positive outcomes against many challenges
Long-term transformation
How the people / community / organisations will continue transformation beyond further direct influence
Sacrifices made along the journey
10 years or more involvement in giving back constructively

Sponsored by

Business Woman of the Year

Penny Streeter OBE

Penny Streeter OBE’s wine and hospitality businesses in South Africa and the UK – as well as her medical staffing companies, Ambition 24hours and Nursing Services of South Africa – achieved further outstanding success in 2023.

One of the few women vineyard owners anywhere, Penny’s Benguela Cove Lagoon Wine Estate at Hermanus joined the top 100 in The World’s Best Vineyards. Its distinctive cool climate wines won many accolades including two 5-star and eleven 4.5-star Platter’s awards.

Sustainable farming practices earned Benguela Cove the status of a World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) Conservation Champion.

In the UK, the 740-acre Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens in West Sussex is another of Penny’s notable wine and hospitality successes. She acquired and transformed the neglected Grade I Listed gardens in 2017 to create a unique Michelin Star ‘dine and stay’ wine-tourism experience.

With its first release of English Sparkling wine in 2024, the estate combines the beauty of English woodland gardens with the innovation of South African wine production, led by Benguela Cove’s winemaker Johann Fourie.

Valdene Reddy

Valdene Reddy is the Head of Equity & Equity Derivatives in the Capital Markets division of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Her role entails building and leveraging services and relationships across financial service participants to enhance and develop new products and offerings relevant to the South African Equity & Equity Derivate markets. Valdene is also responsible for staying abreast of developments across global exchanges as well as the market and regulatory landscape to ensure that the JSE’s offering constantly remains competitive, innovative and appropriate to build and grow South African capital markets. Valdene holds a BSc Actuarial Science degree from the University of Cape Town, and is committed to making a difference with the mark she will leave on business, in particular SA capital markets, and on the people she is privileged to encounter along her way.

Justine Colley

Justine Colley is a qualified and experienced Portfolio Manager having worked in financial services for more than 10 years. Justine started her career at HSBC securities and prior to joining Sanlam UK, was a Wealth Manager at Tilney and later European Wealth. In both roles she managed the South African desk as well as providing solutions for UK and international clients. Having lived in London for the past six years, and proudly South African, Justine relished the opportunity to join the London office of Sanlam, South Africa’s largest financial services company as a Portfolio Manager, providing a proactive, highly personalised approach tailored to her client’s specific objectives. Recently Justine co-founded the Jewish Woman’s Business Network, which is focused on creating an international community for business woman, designed to connect, encourage and mentor them both personally and professionally. Justine, who holds a BSc (with Honours) in Finance and Economics, is a Chartered Associate of the Institute for Securities and Investments and a CFA Level 3 candidate who really values the long term nature of her client relationships and remains enthusiastic in building new relationships.

Penny Streeter OBE

Sarah Hutton

Sarah Hutton is a South African born business woman who has had the pleasure of a career working around the world. As Human Resources Director for Coca-Cola, Sarah aligns the HR Agenda with business strategy and measurable results. Holding an MSc, Management (Industrial Relations), degree from Oxford University is highly valued by the leadership teams she works with, for delivering pragmatic HR solutions to meet business needs on a daily basis, but also for driving large scale organizational change. Sarah has throughout her career at Coca-Cola, been a formal mentor to women in early and mid-career, through a program called women in leadership – Sarah finds witnessing their on-going development a great source of wonder and pleasure.

Awarded to:

A business woman who is achieving in business, either her own company or as an employee, who is an inspirational leader, recognised in her field and is or could be a role model to other women.

The candidate has:

Delivered outstanding achievements within the business sector
Shown consistent determination and drive
Has an enterprising spirit
Tenacity and creativity

The judges will be looking for evidence of:

Business success through their own efforts
Been recognised or stands out in their field
Positive influence and impact within the business community
May have or shows the capacity for collaborating, supporting and mentoring other women in business
Been or could be an Inspiration to other business women

Sponsored by

Business Leader of the Year

Wendy Appelbaum

Wendy Appelbaum is a trustee of The Tribune Trust, an investment holding trust, and a director of Victory Strategic Services (Pty) Limited. She chairs De Morgenzon Estate, a wine farm and agricultural business in Stellenbosch, South Africa, and is a director of Sphere Holdings (Pty) Limited, a black empowerment company focused in the financial services and mining sectors. She was previously the Deputy Chairman of Womens’ Investment Portfolio Limited (Wiphold Limited), the first women-controlled company to list on the Johannesurg Stock Exchange with then assets in excess of R 1billion. She is a director of the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre (Pty) Limited, a post-graduate teaching hospital of the University of the Witwatersrand. She is a trustee of the World Wide Fund for Nature South Africa. Wendy serves on the board of Synergos Southern Africa. She is also a member of the President of Harvard University’s Global Advisory Board, Harvard University’s Women’s Leadership Board, and the International Women’s Forum.

Jason Goodall

Jason is the Group Chief Executive Officer of Dimension Data. He first joined Dimension Data as the Managing Director of Middle East and Africa in 2003. In 2010, Jason served as Group Chief Operating Officer, and in June 2016, he joined Dimension Data’s Board of Directors, as the group CEO. In 1998 Jason was appointed the Chief Financial Officer of OmniLink, a Dimension Data subsidiary that later merged with Internet Solutions. From 2001-2003, he was the Chief Operating Officer at Internet Solutions. Jason holds a CA (SA) having completed his articles at Deloitte in South Africa. Based in London, Jason travels extensively and serves as a Non-executive Director of the Sunshine Golf Tour in South Africa. A keen sportsman, Jason enjoys long distance running, cycling, and triathlons.

David White

David is an entrepreneur at heart, with a strong passion for people development. He worked in a corporate environment (Shell SA) for the first 8 years of his career, and has since been a Partner in DRG Outsourcing, a company that provides human resource administrative and consulting services to a national and international client base. He is also a founding partner in DRGSiyaya (a Sanas Accredited BEE Verification Company), Moore Stephens DRG Expatriate Services (providing Employer of Record services for expatriates working in Africa) and BusinessFit (entrepreneurial support & mentorship).

Paul Gardiner

Paul Gardiner is currently the Global Marketing Director of the Mantis Collection and he’s also responsible for new business development for the group. Mantis Collection is a family run collection of award winning, privately owned, five star properties located around the World. Paul also serves as the Managing Director of Mantis Media, which is the media, branding and licensing subsidiary of the Mantis Collection. In the short time that Mantis Media has been around it has managed to close deals with some of the largest companies in the world including theme park operator Merlin Entertainments and sports marketing agency the International Management Group (IMG-WME).

Wendy Appelbaum

Awarded to:

Any business individual who has excelled in their field and displays outstanding leadership and have contributed to the growth, sustainability and profitability of their business or their area of influence of their employer. Shown good business and management skills industry knowledge and consistent capability.

The candidate has:

Evidenced being a good / natural leader
Empowered others and delegated to help learn
Strong values, ethics and integrity
Excellent understanding of their industry

The judges will be looking for evidence of:

Strategic vision which has helped them achieve their objectives and the respect of others
Noteworthy achievements
Key challenges which they have overcome
What culture they have encouraged
Possible handling of change or transition as a leader

Sponsored by

Playing Your Part Award

Tashmia Ismail-Saville

Tashmia Ismail-Saville is the CEO of the Youth Employment Service (YES), a joint initiative between business, labour and government, which addresses South Africa’s youth unemployment challenge, by creating 1 million work experiences in South Africa. She founded Boundless World, which focusses on strategy and innovation, inclusive business models, mobile digital skills and economic and behavioural research. Tashmia is a PhD fellow at UNU-MERIT in Maastricht and adjunct faculty at GIBS, where she has held faculty positions in the field of innovation management and inclusive business. She has extensive consulting experience with a range of global and local businesses such as Unilever, Roche, GSK, Mahindra and the DBSA. Through her business school involvement, Tashmia found and headed the GIBS Inclusive Markets Programme from 2010 to 2016, here, and through her consulting practice, she developed and implemented inclusive strategies and business models for companies, wrote, conducted research and designed learning programmes on economic inclusion, design thinking and innovation.

Ilana Friedman

Carolyn Steyn

Carolyn Steyn founded “67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day” in December 2013 as a way to honour the legacy of Nelson Mandela, shortly after his passing. She was challenged by Madiba’s former personal assistant, Zelda La Grange to crochet 67 blankets for those in need, in honour of the 67 years the late South African president had spent fighting for social justice, equality and democracy. Five years later, “67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day” has grown into a global movement which is Proudly South African, with ambassadors in India, the UK, Kenya, the USA and many other countries, as well as across the length and breadth of South Africa. To date over 67,000 handmade blankets have been distributed to those in need.

Stuart Craig

Stuart Craig joined the Cannon Collins Trust as CEO in 2015 and has stated he feels immensely proud to be the custodian of the Canon Collins Trust at the present time. During the anti-apartheid struggle, Canon Collins Education & Legal Assistance Trust gave scholarships to ANC activists living in exile outside South Africa. Nowadays the charity gives post-graduate scholarships to students from the SADC region whom they feel are most likely to make a massive difference to society and act as “agents of change”. Cannon Collins provides support to the “Legal Resources Centre” in South Africa, particularly for their work with vulnerable people threatened with homelessness, and they also work with “Equal Education” in campaigning for better school infrastructure in South Africa. Stuart believes Southern Africa desperately needs leaders and change-makers who are committed to social justice, and that the Cannon Collins Trust produce inspiring people who are making a massive difference in society.

Tashmia Ismail-Saville

Awarded to:

An individual who in their personal capacity, or as a leader or key influencer within an organization, has their utilised time, money or skills to contribute to lifting the spirit of the nation, ensuring a better future for all.

The candidate has:

Inspiration
Empowerment
Celebration
Passion

The judges will be looking for evidence of:

Sustained change
Ongoing and escalating improvement in the lives of South Africans within their influence
Energised a contribution and involvement to and by South Africans in caring for one another and their country

Sponsored by

Chairman's Award

Babette Brown

Duduzile Sokhela

Babette Brown

Valdene Reddy

Awarded to:

An individual who, in the estimation of the Chairman and the judging committee, is deserving of special recognition for an extraordinary level of commitment and achievement that falls beyond the scope of any of the other awards.

The candidate has:

Passion
Dedication
Commitment
Vision

The judges will be looking for evidence of:

Perserverance to overcome barriers
Achievement beyond expections
Excellence in their chosen field

Sponsored by

About the Awards

The South African Chamber of Commerce Awards is a celebration of the best efforts and achievements of the South African community in the UK, all wrapped up into a fantastic gala evening. We invite nominations in a range of award categories, each focussing on specific areas on business and community activity. If you know someone who excels at what they do, then they deserve your nomination.

Hosted by
Lali Dangazele

FEATURES OF THE AWARDS
The Awards recognise 10 achievers ranging from individuals who have made a difference in the small business sector or their community, the efforts made by those in the Charitable and Giving Back arenas and to those in the corporate business sector who have excelled.

Nominees and Finalists will be celebrated in the run up to the event and the SA Chamber will provide a media platform for winners and their sponsors to promote their businesses during the following year.

SUCCESS STEPS
The Chamber offers a wide range of sponsorship opportunities to companies who wish to maintain their competitive edge, credibility, and visibility whilst showing their support in a highly competitive market.

Our members have preference over certain sponsorship slots but those who opt for the Gold and Silver Award sponsorship will gain visibility and media coverage thoughout 2019 on our website and other social and press media.

Key Speaker

Mr Trevor Manuel (by video) and HE Tembi Tambo

Due to the National Elections, Trevor Manuel is no longer able to be present at the Awards, but is instead sending us a specially produced video message.

Trevor Manuel served in the government of South Africa as Minister of Finance from 1996 to 2009, during the presidencies of Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe, and subsequently as Minister in the Presidency for the National Planning Commission from 2009 to 2014 under former President Jacob Zuma.

Today, Trevor Manuel is one of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Economic Envoys, tasked with attracting $100bn in investment into South Africa. Members of the South African Chamber of Commerce in the UK are uniquely placed to both assist this mission, and to benefit from it.

We’ll be hearing a uniquely informed, inside story on current developments in South Africa and the prospects and opportunities that arise from them.

He will be introduced by HE Tembi Tambo, the current South African High Commissioner to the UK, and daughter of Oliver Tambo. Her Excellency will also talk about the likely impact of Green policies and climate change on South Africa.