Dr Louise van Rhyn named Influencer of Influencers™ for 2020
The Africa Brand Summit has named Dr Louise van Rhyn, CEO of leadership and education non-profit, Symphonia for South Africa and founder of its flagship programme Partners for Possibility (PfP), as its Influencer of Influencers™ for 2020.
Since the Africa Brand Summit’s inauguration in 2018, this prestigious accolade has been awarded by the summit’s convener at his or her discretion to individuals, corporations, non-profits and other organisations that truly stand out and play a remarkable role in society by, amongst others, building bridges between troubled communities, speaking truth to power in order to push back against actions that hurt the global reputation of countries on the African continent and coming up with extraordinary approaches to solving Africa’s challenges. The purpose of the Africa Brand Summit is to establish an Africa-based global destination image ‘research and advisory service’ to provide globally applicable best practice in destination rebranding, positioning and destination reputation management.
As the 2020 recipient of the Influencer of Influencers™ award, Louise is among the likes of South Africa’s Chief Justice, Mogoeng Mogoeng, and former Public Protector, Professor Thuli Madonsela, who both received the award in 2018.
‘‘We applaud Louise’s tenacity and tireless dedication to creating and building the Partners for Possibility programme over the past 10 years. This is great opportunity to publicly acknowledge celebrate and amplify her invaluable contribution towards a more just, equitable and socially cohesive, South Africa,.’ says Dorcas Dube, Marketing and Communication Manager for Symphonia for South Africa.
PfP brings together skilled business leaders and school principals of under resourced schools in 12-month programme of leadership development for both partners. Together, the partnership receives world class leadership training and the support of similar partnerships, while they apply their new skills and existing abilities and tap into their networks to tackle the unique challenges faced by schools in South Africa. To date, over 1 million learners are attending over 1,300 schools across South Africa in which the leadership has been strengthened through PfP.
The multi-award winning programme was founded in 2010 when Louise became the first business leader to partner with a principal in an effort to improve a school’s education outcomes. Her partnership with Ridwan Samodien, principal of Kannemeyer Primary School in Grassy Park, Cape Town, led to positive change at the school and the community at large.
The school’s success, and the success of this first partnership, has been the model for the PfP programme that exists today, and the lessons learnt along the way have been applied to subsequent partnerships, as school principals and business leaders continue strive to improve education in South Africa together.
For more information about the PfP programme, visit www.PfP4SA.org
