Founder & Director, Decolonial Mental Health (Pty) Ltd.

Zolani Metu is a Mandela Rhodes Scholar with a passion for promoting Mental health & Well- being. His Work Experience Ranges from Public Health Consultancy in the USA in 2016, Mental Health Program Development in Kigutu, Burundi in 2018; and also working as a student support officer for a project of the Allan Gray Orbis Endowment, the Jakes Gerwel Fellowship (JGF).

In 2017 he worked as a Research & Teaching Assistant at the University of Cape Town in 2017 and had the privilege of partaking in a study tour around Germany and Poland which explored how these post-holocaust societies navigate issues of trauma, memorialization, justice and nation- building.

In 2018 Zolani also worked as a junior researcher at the WITS School of public health and has published a systematic review which looked at Strategies to Strengthen the Provision of Mental Healthcare at Primary Care Settings. The review culminated an evidence map that is publicly available for healthcare workers and researchers to use through the WITS Center for Health Policy’s website.

In 2019, he guest- lectured the course on Global Health at Georgetown University, USA and was a keynote speaker at the University’s Africa Forum. Moreover, last year Zolani presented his research which looked at Deinstitutional Mental Healthcare at the 4th World Congress on Public Health, Epidemiology & Nutrition in Miami, Florida, USA. The aspiring academic is currently working on a paper which looks at Biomedical Dominance and the Auxiliarization of Mental Health within South Africa’s Public Health response to the COVID-19 Epidemic.

Founder, Graça Machel Trust

Graça Machel is an African stateswoman whose decades long professional and public life is rooted in Mozambique’s struggle for self-rule and international advocacy for women and children’s rights. She is a former freedom fighter in Mozambique’s FRELIMO movement and that country’s first Minister of Education.

In the years following her tenure in government, Machel produced a ground-breaking UNICEF report “The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children” that changed the way the United Nations and member states respond in conflict zones. Since then, she has worked tirelessly in support of global health, child welfare, and women’s rights and empowerment.

Machel works through several regional and international development bodies to accelerate social transformation. Machel is a founding member and Deputy Chair of The Elders, and played a key role in establishing Girls Not Brides. She is a member of the UN Secretary-General’s Sustainable Development Goals Advocacy Group.

Machel lends her expertise to a number of organizations in a governance role. She serves as Board Chair of the Africa Child Policy Forum, Board Chair of the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes, Board Chair of United People Global as well as Executive Chair of the Mandela Institute for Development Studies. Machel is a Board Member of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, the Kofi Annan Foundation, and Education Above All. She is Board Chair Emeritus for the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH) and is a UNICEF Young People’s Agenda Global Advisory Board Member. She is Chairperson of Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust and a Trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. She also sits on the Jack Ma Netpreneur Advisory Board.

Additionally, she is the Chancellor of the African Leadership University and the President of SOAS.

Machel has created three non-governmental organizations in her own right. She founded and serves as President of the Foundation for Community Development and the Zizile Institute for Child Development. She founded the Graça Machel Trust in 2010 she focuses on advocating for women’s economic and financial empowerment, food security and nutrition, education for all, as well as good governance.

Graça Machel has dedicated her life to improving the fate of women and children, inspiring hope, and building a more just and equitable world for us all.

Former President of Liberia, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Internationally known as “Africa’s Iron Lady”, Nobel Laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is a leading promoter of freedom, peace, justice, women’s empowerment and democratic rule. As Africa’s first democratically elected female head of state, she has led Liberia through reconciliation and recovery following the nation’s decade-long civil war, as well as the Ebola Crisis, winning international acclaim for achieving economic, social, and political change. Recognized as a global leader for women’s empowerment, President Sirleaf was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2011.

During her two terms as president, President Sirleaf focused on rebuilding Liberia, attracting over $16 billion in foreign direct investment and more than $5 million in private resources to reconstruct schools, clinics and markets, and fund scholarships for capacity building. She successfully negotiated $4.6 billion in external debt forgiveness and the lifting of UN trade sanctions, which have allowed Liberia to access international markets once again. She increased the national budget from $80 million in 2006 to over $672 million in 2012, with an annual GDP growth rate of more than 7%.

United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women. Now in her second term (to 2021), she was first sworn into office on 19 August 2013. She began her career as a leader in South Africa and an activist in the struggle against apartheid. She was part of the women’s movement that organized for women’s rights ensuring that they were enshrined in the new Constitution of a free South Africa. She became a member of Parliament and Deputy Minister in the Mandela government. Later she was appointed Minister of Minerals and Energy and fought against blood diamonds, and subsequently Deputy President, working on the fight against HIV/AIDS and coordinating efforts between the private sector, civil society and government to tackle poverty and education issues.

As the head of the UN entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, she is a global advocate and influencer, in 2018 and 2019 being named as one of the most fluential persons in gender policy around the world. She is a member of the G7’s Gender Advisory Council. Under her leadership, the groundbreaking High-level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment convened by the UN Secretary- General in 2015 highlighted key policy issues for concerted action including the over representation of women in the informal sector, unpaid care, and the harmful gender norms and stereotypes that constrain progress.

She has led the organization’s innovative work on disruption of society’s norms, for example with the HeForShe movement’s focus on male engagement in gender equality, or the UnStereotype Alliance’s initiative to use advertising as a force for good to drive positive change. In 2019 the advertising industry recognized her efforts in this regard and her advocacy for women, human rights, and social justice throughout the world with the prestigious LionHeart Award.
Through coalition and movement building among global leaders in public and private sectors, and with civil society, she is driving the role of women in leadership, and ending discrimination and violence against women and girls.

She has a PhD on education and technology from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom.

A trained psychologist and executive coach, Hope has over 16 years’ experience in private practice and consulting. She joined BCX as Chief Human Resources Officer in October 2018 and sees herself as a transformer and problem solver, with a vision for the future. Hope has a special interest in acting as a catalyst for change, coaching leaders who are in transition, and helping them to identify and develop strategies for employee engagement. Her goal is to empower and inspire the employees within her organisation and to develop her team of Human Resources (HR) professionals into strategic business partners.

Before joining BCX, Hope held Human Resources positions at BMW and First National Bank, where she worked for nine years, before launching her own coaching company.

Hope has several qualifications, including a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from the University of Pretoria and an advanced Human Resources Executive Programme Certificate from the Michigan Ross School of Business. Hope is registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).

Buky is the Executive Director of Education As A Vaccine, an organization that works with young people to advance their right to health and protection from all forms of violence.

Previously she worked as the Program Coordinator for Nigerian Women in Agricultural Research for Development, NiWARD. And prior to moving back to Nigeria to work at NiWARD, she was the Darfur Dream Team Sister Schools Program Manager at the Enough Project, a project of the Center for American Progress to end genocide and crimes against humanity. She realized her deep commitment to global issues, economic development and gender equality while receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Global Policy Studies at Chatham University, Pittsburgh, PA. She also holds a Master’s in International Peace Studies with a focus in Development and Peace from the University for Peace in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Gender Equality and Women’s Rights Activist; Speaker; Writer

Zulaikha Patel first grabbed the world’s attention when she became the symbol of the fight against institutionalised racism at Pretoria High School for Girls, when at the age of 13 she led a protest against institutionalised racism in schools in South Africa and the decolonization of hair policies in schools, which was followed my several protests across South Africa in schools such as Lawson Brown High School and many others.

In August 2016 she Co-Founded the Black Magic Movement, aimed at celebrating Black Pride, restoring pride into the Black community and giving Black scholars a voice on current affairs which later was recognized as the LEADSA YOUTH HEROES for August 2016.

Zulaikha serves the youngest Ambassador to the Charlotte Mannya Maxeke Institution, which is a Non Profit Company born out of desire to preserve , promote , elevate and leverage the legacy left behind by Charlotte Mannya Maxeke , who had been the first Black woman to graduate with a BSC degree in Southern Africa. The goal is to produce proud, extraordinary and miraculous African women in celebration of Charlotte Mannya Maxeke’s rich history.
Her efforts have been recognised by African American music artist Solange Knowles on social media, as well as struggle stalwarts Ahmed Kathrada and Sophie De Bruyn at the annual keynote address held by Ahmed Kathrada Foundation where she gave a speech on Black Woman Empowerment. Her efforts were further recognised by Professor Angela Davis at the annual Steve Biko memorial lecture held at Unisa in 2016, as well as Professor Thuli Madonsela and CNN Africa in October 2016 under the Hashtag #AfricanGirlsRock.

A street artist Lexi Bella later painted a 40ft Mural of Zulaikha in New York on Flushing Avenue in America.

She was the youngest South African woman recognised on BBCs 100 Most Influential Women in the world at the age of 13. She was also one of the youngest women to receive a Mbokodo Award in the category ‘Women In Media’ in 2016 under Carol Bouwer Productions which recognises women who have shown Leadership and fostered growth.

Founder: Muse Africa, UCT Student & Roedean Alumna

Thabile Mashologu is the founder and chairperson of Muse Afrika, a non-profit company which seeks to fight Gender-Based Violence through the stimulation of conversation, the education of the youth and the sourcing of necessary resources. Thabile has had a long standing track record in various youth leadership roles which include being Roedean School’s representative on the Johannesburg Junior Council, being a member of Roedean’s student representative council and heading the school’s transformation committee. In this capacity in particular, Thabile spear- headed various initiatives towards inter-school collaboration on issues of transformation. Thabile in her high school years also established Dear South Africa, a social media platform to encourage open and honest dialogue to educate participants on issues of transformation. By the end of her high school career Thabile had achieved a following of over 2 000 people on the Dear South Africa platform. Thabile is currently studying towards a BA degree, majoring in economics and politics. She continues in her passion for social change through her involvement in the United Nations Association of South Africa’s UCT chapter where she heads the events portfolio.

Roedean School (SA) Pupil

Roedean Interact Board Member; she was involved in coordination of collections for the May Movement Initiative. She produced the Human Rights assembly using the MS Teams platform.

Human Rights Advocate and Filmmaker; Founder: Think Equal

Leslee was voted by the NY Times the No 2 Most Impactful Woman of 2015 (second to Hillary Clinton), and has been awarded the prestigious Swedish Anna Lindh Human Rights Prize (previously won by Madeleine Albright). She has also been named Safe’s Global Hero of 2015, Global Thinker by Foreign Policy, and the GlobalmindED award for Arts and Education in 2019. In 2019 Leslee was awarded the UN Women for Peace Activist Award at the United Nations, UN Association USA’s Global Citizen of 2019 and the Gandhi Foundation International Peace Award.

A former filmmaker and now campaigner for a system change on education, Leslee is no stranger to successful campaigning films. “Who Bombed Birmingham?” (starring John Hurt) for HBO and Granada TV, directly led to the release of the ‘Birmingham Six’ after 17 years of wrongful imprisonment. Her feature film “East is East” (35 prestigious awards worldwide, including a BAFTA for Best Film) did much to promote tolerance and the celebration of diversity as between the Asian and British communities and has become a classic film taught in schools across Europe. Her documentary “India’s Daughter”, has been critically acclaimed around the globe, won 32 awards (including the Peabody Award and the Amnesty International Media Award for Best Documentary 2016) and sparked a global movement to end violence against women and girls.

The searing insights yielded by the 21⁄2 journey making “India’s Daughter”, led Leslee to found UK- and-US-based Not for Profit global education initiative “Think Equal”, of which she is the CEO. This early years’ education programme, the solution to the problem the film laid bare, is currently impacting 39,850 children in 14 countries across 5 continents (Australia, Botswana, Canada, Colombia, India, Kenya, Mexico, Northern Macedonia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, UK, USA and Trinidad Tobago). Partners of Think Equal include UNICEF, UNESCO, Pope Francis’s Scholas; the AC Milan Foundation; Montessori; the Institute for Healthy Minds (Wisconsin Madison University); Charter for Compassion, the Dalai Lama / Emory University’s SEE Curriculum and the Yale University Center for Emotional Intelligence.

Founder & Director L&N Advisors

Lovelyn Nwadeyi, Founder and Director of L & N Advisors, is an established socio-economic and political voice in South Africa and a well-known facilitator for dialogues regarding social justice. She was named among The Independent’s Mzansi 100 Influencers in 2017 and lauded by Elle Magazine as one of the foremost Women to Watch in 2016. She is also an Alumna of the prestigious USA State Department International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) for premier emerging foreign leaders.

Lovelyn is a Senior 2019/2020 Fellow of the Atlantic Fellowship for Racial Equity, coordinated by Columbia University in New York and the Nelson Mandela Foundation in South Africa.

Her academic qualifications include a BA International Studies degree from Stellenbosch University, an MSc in Peace and Conflict Resolution (cum laude) from Uppsala University in Sweden, and a professional certification in Telecommunications Policy and Regulation Management (TPRM) from Wits University.

Roedean School (SA) Pupil – Transformation Committee Member

Nomagugu is a grade 12 pupil and is Head of the Student Representative Council at Barnato Park High School. She is also the Deputy President of Gauteng District 09. She has been a pupil of the Roedean Academy since grade 8.

In her leadership roles her priority is to ensure young women have a voice and believe in themselves as she knows this is possible from her own experience. She believes in social justice for all, and the possibility of social change.

Climatologist

Professor Coleen Vogel is a climatologist by training and has undertaken research in climate change, climate vulnerability and adaptation, with a particular focus on disaster risk reduction and climate variability. She was one of the key contributors to the writing of the Green and White Papers on South African Disaster Management and was a major contributing author for the Disaster Management Act.

She was one of the Chapter Lead Authors of the Africa Chapter for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC 4th Assessment Report and was also an author of the Synthesis Report for Policy Makers of the 4th IPCC Assessment Report. This large team of various scientists, together with Al Gore, received a Nobel Peace Prize. Coleen was a Chapter Author on Human Security for the 5th IPCC assessment report. Coleen has also been involved in various international global environmental change activities. She has been Chair and Vice Chair of international committees (for example, the International Human Dimensions Programme, now known together with other international programmes as Future Earth). She has received an international award, the Burtoni Award, for her work on climate change advocacy and science of climate change adaptation. Her current research interests include transformative education for global environment change and sustainability, climate change in its broader context and adaptation and disaster risk reduction focusing particularly on the interactions between physical and social dimensions shaping change. She is very keen to build links and collaborations with others, particularly in sustainability and transdisciplinarity science.

Coleen is currently project lead on the City of Johannesburg Adaptation and climate change. Passionate about youth development she is very involved in mentoring students (both undergraduate and postgraduate) helping to advance both theory and praxis in various practical research projects with value-add impacts. In addition to being an adaptation specialist, Coleen is also undertaking research into transdisciplinary research approaches.

Climate Activist

Seventeen-year-old Ayakha Melithafa lives in Eerste River on the outskirts of Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Her mother works as a farmer in the Western Cape, where droughts there have threatened her income. Because if there is no water, they cannot plant or feed and water the livestock. Between 2017 and 2018, Ayakha, along with other residents of Cape Town experienced a period of unprecedented and severe water shortage, compounded by dam levels that had been declining since 2015 and very limited rainfall.

The changes around her have led Ayakha to become a dedicated climate activist in her community. She is part of the Project 90 by 2030 YouLead initiative and acts as a recruitment official for the African Climate Alliance. Ayakha shares her knowledge and experiences in climate activism with the people in her community and tries to show people how to live with a low- carbon footprint.

Roedean School (SA) Pupil

A Model UN Debater; she was in a dialogue with Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Barbara Creecy as part of the SA Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) at Wits. She has contributed towards the draft Bill on Climate Change.

Roedean School (SA) Pupil

A Model UN Debater and involved in a MUN interhouse debate on food insecurity and food waste.

Ally Clayton, Roedean School (SA) alumna 2006, is a passionate educator and a sustainability advocate.

She holds a Masters in Science in Environmental Management and is strong believer in continuous development and learning. Developing and delivering an education and support program for small and micro businesses in the green economy through the Green Building Council South Africa, stands out as both a personal and professional highlight for Ally. In following her passion for education and as a dedicated lifelong learner, she is currently completing a formal qualification in Education. Ally has experience teaching pre-primary, primary, secondary and tertiary learners both locally and internationally.

Founder, Narachi Leadership ; Desmond Tutu Fellow, Mandela Rhodes Scholar, Felix Scholar, 2019; 100 Most Influential Young Africans

Rachel is driven by her commitment to empower leaders towards courageous and authentic leadership. She believes that Africa will only get the future it deserves if leaders can access their highest courage and most authentic power. She is the founder of Narachi Leadership (2015- present), where she merges tools from neuroscience, psychology and ontology to give clients a holistic opportunity for theirs and their followers continued development. In this work she offers her expertise as a facilitator, ontological coach, advisory partner and speaker.

She works with corporates, entrepreneurs, teams and individuals. Rachel has received numerous awards for leadership and academic excellence including: the Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellowship; the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship; the Mellon Mays Leadership and Service Award; the Mellon Mays Scholarship and the Felix Scholarship. She read for her Masters in African Studies at the University of Oxford (St. Anthony’s College) and for her Undergraduate and Honours degrees in Social Anthropology at the University of Cape Town. Rachel’s ambition is to develop deep benches of leaders across Africa – leaders who can accelerate the transformation and inclusive development of the continent. She has spoken and trained on various platforms to executives and emerging leaders. These include the UN, World Bank, Obama Leaders, TEDx, L’Oreal Women in Science and EVE Africa amongst others.

Since its inception in 2009, the Ndlovu Youth Choir has become one of the world’s most treasured groups. Their unique musical arrangements, powerhouse vocals, irresistibly combined with mesmerising choreography and infectious energy have inspired millions across the globe.

An eleven-year journey has seen an after-school programme for orphaned and vulnerable children, started by the Ndlovu Care Group, transform into an international recording and touring career. Participation does not only instil values of togetherness, a work ethic and a sense of responsibility, but it develops self-discipline, self-confidence, and leadership.

Through the choir, choristers gain a global perspective that offers an early pathway to artistic and professional achievement. The choir uses their talents to share their inspirational story with the world through song and dance.