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MESSAGESCHAIRMAN JEWISH ACHIEVER AWARDS AND JEWISH REPORT MESSAGE: Howard Sackstein

SPONSORS’ MESSAGES: Absa, Chivas, Kia, The Creative Counsel and Europcar

AWARDSLIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD IN HONOUR OF HELEN SUZMAN: Issie Kirsh

CHIVAS HUMANITARIAN AWARD IN HONOUR OF CHIEF RABBI CYRIL HARRIS: Thuli Madonsela

KIA COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD: Tali Yates

JEWISH REPORT ART, SPORT, SCIENCE & CULTURE AWARD: Dov Fedler

THE CREATIVE COUNSEL YOUNG JEWISH ENTREPRENEURS AWARD: Jonathan Shaipro, Dan Stillerman, Genevieve Nathan and Romi Levenstein, Trevor Bernberg, Netanel Block, Ryan Canin, Claudia Swartzberg.

EUROPCAR JEWISH WOMAN IN LEADERSHIP AWARD: Joy Coplan, Benita Levin, Niki Breger, Helen Fraser, Ariella Kuper, Kim Feinberg, Brenda Woodward, Michelle Lissoos, Natalie Knight, Glynnis Breytenbach, Shareen Richter, Raelene Tradonsky, Reeva Forman, Rhona Anne Solomon, Wendy Kahn, Marlene Bethlehem, Beryl Lutrin, Gabi Medalie and Haley Rogoff, Daphne Kuhn, Paula Slier.

ABSA ENTREPRENEUR AWARD: David Benjamin, Jacqueline Biess, Alexandra Biess, Danielle Green and Rochi Schollij, Linda Galvad, Shaun Woolf, Shana Rosenthal, Raymond Leibman, Paula Slier, Rhona Anne Solomon, David Jacobson and Yossi Hasson, Samuel Nassimov, Ariella Kuper and Warren Schewitz, Warren Moss, Paul Berman, Danny Aaron and Tom Goldgamer.

ABSA UNLISTED COMPANY AWARD: Hirsch’s, Steve Felder, David and Jonathan Shapiro, Eugene Beck, Gilad Abelman, Kevin Fine, Mark Sack, Ronen Aires, Bernard Stern.

ABSA LISTED COMPANY AWARD: Colin Coleman, Hylton Kallner, Jonathan Hertz, Laurence Rapp, Stewart Cohen.

STORIESTHE HEART AND SOUL OF BUSINESS

COURTING WITH LAW

A PROUD TRADITION OF CREATING JOBS

THE JEWISH CONTRIBUTION TO HUMANITARIAN WORK IN SOUTH AFRICA AND FIGHTING XENOPHOBIA

SOUTH AFRICAN JEWSIH SPORTS HEROES

CONTRIBUTION OF JEWS TO SOUTH AFRICA

BUILDING A NATION

CONTRIBUTION OF SOUTH AFRICAN JEWS TO ARTJEWISH INVOLVEMENT IN THE ANTI-APARTHEID STRUGGLE

PUBLISHER: SA JEWISH REPORT • Tel : (011) 430 1980General Manager: Karen Knowles Advertising: Britt LandsmanPRINTERS: Kadimah Print www.kadimah.comDESIGN AND LAYOUT: Danielle Rovetti EDITORS: Vanessa Valkin, Michael Beiling

FLIGHTS SPONSORED BY COMAIRHOTEL ACCOMMODATION SPONSORED BY PROTEA HOTELS

CONTENTS

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HOWARD SACKSTEINCHAIRMAN: JEWISH ACHIEVER AWARDS AND JEWISH REPORT

WE BUILT THIS COUNTRY WITH HEART AND SOUL

How is it possible that a relatively small group of refugees fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe would arrive in South Africa and have such a profoundly positive impact on the development of their new home? This is the story of the South African Jewish community and in many ways it echoes the stories of Jewish communities around the globe.

When these impoverished exiles docked in the Cape, members of the new South African political elite of the 1930s protested their arrival at the docks, tried to block their entry into the country and tried to deny them basic human rights.

But this group of underprivileged immigrants would become South Africa’s Nobel Laureates in science, medicine and literature, leaders of the trade union movement, struggle icons, constitutional court jurists, artists, academics, lawyers, musicians, doctors, entrepreneurs, industrialists and revolutionaries.

In every aspect of South African society, South African Jewry has had a profound impact. From Bafana Bafana captain Dean Furman, to the Joel Stransky’s winning goal at the Rugby World Cup; from Johnny Clegg’s ‘White Zulu’ music and the transgender comedy of Pieter Dirk Uys, to the charcoal drawings of William Kentridge and the magical Zanzibar paintings of Irma Stern; from Helen Suzman to Nadine Gordimer; from Joe Slovo and Ruth First, to Solly Sachs and Arthur Chaskalson; from Sammy Marks to Raymond Ackerman; from Brian Joffe to Issie and Natie Kirsh; from Donny Gordon to Adrian Gore; from Operation Hunger to Afrika Tikkun - South African Jews have ‘built this country with heart and soul’.

And so, at the ABSA Jewish Achiever Awards 2015, we honour those members of our community who have contributed so greatly to the development and building of our country. These are the 17th Awards and each year we astound everyone with the quality of our nominees and their achievements; achievements which would have inconceivable two or three generations ago on the docks of Cape Town.

This year we received from the public, in excess of 400 nominations for our nine Awards. Each year the competition gets stronger and stronger.

Our partnership with Absa stretches back many years. We are enormously grateful to the remarkable team at Absa who give us the freedom to honour such extraordinary South Africans. To Maria Ramos, Craig Bond, Roy Ross, and Banie Claassen who forever have the loyalty and respect of our community. To Ray Levine at Kia, Dawn Nathan-Jones at Europcar, Ran Neu-Ner and Gil Oved from the Creative Counsel and our dear friends at Chivas – we salute you with our community’s warmth, gratitude and business.

Although the ABSA Jewish Achiever Awards are an end in themselves, all of the money raised goes to support the free publication and distribution of the SA Jewish Report newspaper, web-portal, e-mail newsletter and Facebook page. Today our hard copy newspaper is read by 42 000 people weekly, our e-mail newsletter reaches 30 000 people and our website receives more than 20 000 unique users every month.

We know that we provide an invaluable service to our community - professional, balanced and responsible journalism on all issues which affect SA Jewry. We have a loyal and devoted following, but our mission cannot be fulfilled unless we have the full support of our entire community. Our professional staff are remarkable, talented and passionate and we hope that your advertising rands will ensure that we can continue to deliver this vital service.

My thanks go to my entire organizing committee but especially to Herby Rosenberg who, at 80 years of age, continues to inspire generations as well as to Dina Diamond who has handled the impossible missions I have assigned her with perfection, grace and determination. Our heartfelt thanks to our three panels of judges and to Grant Thornton for auditing the Awards.

These Awards are dedicated to the Jewish Community of South Africa without whom South Africa would be a far worse-off country. May we continue to ‘build this country with heart and soul’.

2 | CHAIRMAN MESSAGE

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Absa and Barclays Africa has been a sponsor of the Jewish Achiever Awards for over a decade now. I believe that this, in itself, is a clear indication of the importance we place on our relationship with the Jewish community and the priority we place on finding ways to positively impact the communities we interact with.

Our organisation’s common purpose is to help people achieve their ambitions – in the right way. Supporting phenomenal initiatives such as the Jewish Achiever Awards enables us to fulfil this purpose. These awards are an ideal platform to honour members of the South African Jewish community who have made a significant contribution to the development of South Africa in business, entrepreneurship and the humanities.

To be acknowledged as a Jewish Achiever is an impressive accolade. The judging process is becoming increasingly well-known as the most rigorous and credible business awards process in the country, especially in the business categories. This makes those who are nominated, and particularly those who are award winners, the best of the best.

South Africa needs people who are passionate about making a sustainable difference. When I see the cascading impact, past and present, Jewish Achievers have on society and business, I am always humbled.

On behalf of Barclays Africa, I would therefore like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to this year’s outstanding nominees and winners. You have demonstrated that you are truly “building this country with heart and soul”, and positively shaping South Africa’s future for generations to come.

Through your achievements in business, the arts, science, sports and culture, community service and entrepreneurship, among other spheres, an environment that is conducive to success and advancement is created - an environment within which we can all prosper.

Absa is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Barclays Africa Group, which is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and is one of Africa’s largest financial services groups. We offer personal and business banking, credit cards, corporate and investment banking, wealth and investment management as well as bancassurance. We are uniquely positioned as a fully global, fully regional and fully local bank with operations in 12 countries and majority stakes in banks in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania (Barclays Bank Tanzania and National Bank of Commerce), Uganda and Zambia. We also have representative offices in Namibia and Nigeria. Barclays Bank PLC also has operations in Egypt and Zimbabwe which are an integral part of our African business.

CRAIG BONDCHIEF EXECUTIVE: RETAIL AND BUSINESS BANKING, BARCLAYS AFRICA

MANDLA HOLOMISABRAND MANAGER: CHIVAS REGAL

Chivas Regal is a proud sponsor of the 2015 Jewish Achievers Awards - the prestigious awards ceremony dedicated to excellence within the South African Jewish community. We at Chivas have a rich heritage of luxury and unity – ideals that we share with the Jewish community.

Chivas Regal, created by brothers, John and James Chivas, is the world’s first luxury whisky mastered through the delicate art of blending fine ingredients, passion, luxury and cultivating an entrepreneurial spirit. It is in this spirit that we are proud to present the Chivas Humanitarian Award which celebrates an individual who maintains a fine balance between material wealth and spiritual fulfilment.

We would like to congratulate all the winners of the Jewish Achievers Awards and we look forward to the celebrations – the Chivas Regal way.

Last year Chivas Regal launched The Venture, a search for the most promising social entrepreneur in South Africa. The Venture is backed by a $1million fund for the most innovative enterprises that turn a profit and make a difference to the world. The success of the

campaign was celebrated through the crowning of David Gluckman from Lumkani Fire Detection.

Now we are thrilled to announce the second year of The Venture. Launching in August, The Venture will once again call on social entrepreneurs to demonstrate that their enterprise is indeed one that aims to improve our society while making a profit. These are individuals who are re-defining what ‘success’ is.

It is a continuation of our Live with Chivalry campaign which encouraged people to live life with honour, loyalty and graciousness. We aim to apply ‘Chivalry’ to the world of business, as we did to our consumers’ social lives.

We look forward to sharing this with people who understand what it means to achieve excellence.

Yours in chivalry,

Mandla Holomisa, Brand Manager: Chivas Regal.

KIA Motors South Africa is once again honoured to sponsor the KIA Community Service Award at this year’s Absa Jewish Achiever Awards.

Ray Levin, CEO of KIA Motors South Africa (KMSA), was the recipient of the Jewish Achiever Award for Unlisted Company of the Year in 2013, which he shared with Ran Neu-Ner and Gil Oved from The Creative Counsel.

“The support of the KIA brand from within the Jewish community remains fantastic, and we believe that this sponsorship is but one way in which to show our gratitude and give something back to the community,” he adds.

Over and above his role as CEO of KMSA, Levin supports a variety of non-profit charities in his personal capacity and through KIA’s CSI initiatives. Some of these programmes include Shout SA, the Smile Foundation, CANSA and CHOC, and earlier this year, he took part in the inaugural 702 CEOSleepout. KMSA also supports Imperial i-Pledge, which endeavours to promote safe and responsible road usage amongst its 35 000 employees in order to encourage greater awareness of road safety and the cultivation of safer, more considerate driving habits among all South African road users.

“South Africa has its own challenges in the socio-economic sphere, and

KIA Motors South Africa will continue to support these organisations,” Levin adds. “As a South African and a businessman, it gives me great pleasure to be able to support and assist community projects that focus on the upliftment of people, increased access to education and the eradication of poverty and homelessness.”

Over the past 15 years, KIA’s dealership footprint has expanded to 75 operations across South Africa, with coverage for the brand into Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

The overwhelmingly positive changes in public perception about the brand continues to challenge the existing, traditional players with an exciting alternative across a variety of vehicle segments. The KIA brand recently achieved its best-ever result in the authoritative J.D. Power Initial Quality Survey, ending in second place overall and ahead of all but one established premium brand.

“We thank South Africa for its continued support of the KIA brand and its products, without which we would not have been able to show the continued market growth that we’ve been fortunate to experience,” says Levin.

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Never before has there been such an explosion of young, successful entrepreneurs globally.

These are exciting times. Technology is king; innovation rules; and this has allowed new businesses to scale, rapidly – in some cases achieving success virtually overnight. Globalisation of entrepreneurship has produced numerous business success stories as ideas flourish ungoverned by geographical boundaries, thanks to technology.

Facebook, Uber, Minecraft, Whatsapp and Twitter are among the many companies founded by young entrepreneurs. These successful start-ups act as inspiration and examples of how combining creative business ideas with technological advances can catapult small local businesses into the global business arena.

Africa too has its own success stories of young entrepreneurs in logistics, manufacturing, technology, telecommunication and e-commerce solving seemingly uniquely African problems through innovation and technology only to discover their application has global relevance. Oftentimes this wider application required the input of more established business mentors who recognised the potential for the idea to go global.

On a continent faced with huge unemployment challenges, entrepreneurship emerges as a solution for providing a livelihood for

Africa’s populace. Closer to home, South Africa’s unemployment is not abating, rising to 26.4 per cent in the first quarter of this year*. Youth unemployment in the country presents even more frightening figures, with estimates pitching the figure at over 50 per cent. Government does not have the capacity to create the volume of jobs needed and the private sector does not have the answers.

South Africans have presented an undeniable entrepreneurial spirit which, if cultivated properly, can put a huge dent in unemployment numbers. Mentorship, education, and funding can assist in steering, for example, a vendor to become a spaza shop owner, and eventually a retail supermarket owner.

By identifying and nurturing entrepreneurs, a culture of ‘pay it forward’ will develop in the country, and like ourselves, the mentees will become the mentors, eventually putting an end to unemployment in South Africa. It is for these reasons that The Creative Counsel is proud to be sponsoring the Young Jewish Entrepreneur Award. Entrepreneurship is something we are passionate about and we want to play our part in empowering and assisting young people to follow their dreams.

Congratulations to all the winners of the Absa Jewish Achievers Awards.

Europcar is proud to announce their sponsorship of a new category in the annual Absa Jewish Achiever Awards: The Europcar Jewish Women in Leadership Award. The category aims to honour the remarkable contribution made by Jewish women in all spheres of South African leadership and society.

The winner of this award epitomises a woman who makes a difference in the business and broader community through unparalleled vision, actions and leadership. This leadership encourages other women to follow this ethos which contributes in developing more equal opportunities and ultimately a better South Africa.

Nominees in this category do not necessarily have to be leaders in the corporate world. They can be women who have achieved great success by taking risks and by being courageous leaders no matter the circumstance and conditions. These women believe wholeheartedly in their respective initiatives, executing them with intuitive sensitivity and purpose.

Dawn Nathan-Jones, an entrepreneur and CEO of Imperial Car Rental Division - and a founding member of this car rental company over three decades ago - has the following words of congratulations for all nominees in this year’s Jewish Women in Leadership Award:

“Europcar wishes to congratulate all nominees in this new and exciting category. It was a humbling and inspirational experience to meet and engage with each nominee. I found the process enlightening, motivating and it was an absolute privilege to be exposed to your stories of success and unselfish achievements.”

“Women have made an enormous contribution in South Africa and they need to be encouraged to come forward and inspire other women to do the same. Europcar takes pride in appointing women to

top posts and continues to invest in the upliftment and development of women in leadership. We have been a woman-led business since 1979 and fully understand the power and possibilities of women leaders. We advocate a non-discrimination policy, with 64% of the management positions in the company held by women based on merit. The Europcar Jewish Women in Leadership Award has been created to acknowledge, honour and encourage successful women in leadership within all spheres of society, whether it is in businesses or communities.

Europcar’s decision to sponsor this award stems from our core values and company vision of creating a South Africa that provides equal opportunities and development for all races, genders and ages. Europcar’s passion for community and empowerment is clearly evident through our extensive support of the vulnerable and underprivileged youth in our country, through numerous initiatives focused on education, upliftment and empowerment, which is amongst the varied initiatives we support.

“The team at Europcar strives to be an inspirational brand that makes a positive difference to our people, to our customers and to our planet,” says Dawn. The company has grown from strength to strength, and in 2014, Europcar was honoured to be voted ‘Africa’s Leading Car Hire Company’ at the World Travel Awards for the ninth consecutive year.

In closing, Dawn has the following message: “Best of luck to all nominees and congratulations for this accolade. Regardless of who receives the award, take pride in the knowledge that even as a nominee you, as a woman, are being recognised for your strong, inspirational and unwavering leadership in your business or community. You are already winning in the creation of a stronger community, a better country and a brighter tomorrow for our children.”

RAN NEU-NER AND GIL OVEDTHE CREATIVE COUNCIL

DAWN NATHAN-JONES | EUROPCAR

6 | SPONSOR MESSAGE

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Throughout history, man has tended to leave the place of his birth either to seek new opportunities or to remove himself from difficult circumstances. The Jews of South Africa are no different.

From the 1800s to the early 1900s, the South African Jewish community experienced considerable growth. Pogroms and persecution in Eastern Europe and the perceived opportunities in South Africa in the diamond and gold industries resulted in an influx of Jews to South Africa from those areas.

Several Jews of German origin made large sums of money through businesses they created in South Africa. Some were even honoured with knighthoods. In this category were Sir Max Michaelis, Sir Bernard Oppenheimer and Sir Sigismund Neumann. Deep-level gold mining was introduced by an uncle of the Oppenheimers, Anton Dunkelsbuhler. Ludwig Breitmeyer played a key role in the control of the diamond industry globally. The dynamite concession was bought from President Kruger by Edouard Lippert. Sammy Marks, a Russian Jew and friend of Paul Kruger, was a pioneering industrialist and was involved in various industries with his cousin Isaac Lewis, including brick, steel, and glass making, as well as diamond, gold and coal mining. He also served as a senator in the first Union Parliament.

Notable contributions to commerce and industry were also made by English-born Jews, such as Barney Barnato and his brother Harry; their nephew Solly Joel and his son Jim; Sir George Albu and his brother Leopold; and Sir Lionel Phillips. Barnato controlled the diamond industry with Cecil John Rhodes and was instrumental in establishing De Beers.

In Heritage of the Rainbow Nation (2013), commissioned by Absa Group, Ivor Sandler notes that many of the Eastern European Jewish

immigrants were artisans (carpenters, blacksmiths and painters); craftsman (tailors); and traders, merchants, shopkeepers and wholesalers. They sought to better themselves and worked hard to achieve this aim. As time passed, they improved their economic position and ‘began to move up the social ladder.

Most of the Jewish doyens and captains of industry today are products of this humble heritage. Success was never given; it was a result of hard work, focus, commitment and sometimes a bit of luck as well.

Sir Donald Gordon created Liberty, a leading financial services group. Adrian Gore founded Discovery and revolutionised the healthcare industry. Stephen Koseff created one of the top five banks in the country. Meyer Kahn led South African Breweries, creating a globally competitive brewery. Ivan Glasenberg created Glencore Xstrata, one of the world’s largest commodity trading and mining companies. Eric Samson founded Macsteel and created a steel empire. Brian Joffe founded Bidvest and built a truly global diversified business. Raymond Ackerman created one of the biggest supermarket chains in South Africa, Pick n Pay. Gill Marcus served as Governor of the Reserve Bank. Ivor Ichikowitz dominates in the defense industry. Robbie Brozin established Nandos, a global restaurant chain. Ellerines, the furniture wholesaler, was co-founded by brothers Sydney and Eric Ellerine. Ivan Saltzman founded Dis-Chem, the most successful privately-owned pharmacy retail group in South Africa. These are just some of the many success stories.

All of them have helped create jobs, and have contributed through their philanthropic efforts to better the lives of their own community and others, and they make us proud to be South African Jews.

THE HEART AND SOUL OF BUSINESS

BY DINA DIAMOND

8 | AWARDS

Achieve: [verb] “To gain with effort or despite difficulty; reach”

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Issie Kirsh is positive that he does not have the Midas touch (“anybody who says he’s got a Midas touch is a bit of a dreamer”), but he has certainly had great success in several business ventures over the years.

Possibly best known as the founder of Radio 702 – now part of the Primedia group – Issie and his brother Natie began their stellar business careers when they took over the family business started by their father in Potchefstroom in 1922.

They remained partners until 1989, with Natie working in Swaziland for many years and Issie running the family business in Potchefstroom.

The first major new business established by Issie, with his partner Arnold Levy, in Potchefstroom in 1968, was King Food Corporation, successfully launching the King Korn brand for the home brewing of sorghum beer. It remains a household name within the traditional Black community.

In 1970 Issie and Natie established Kirsh Industries and acquired control of Moshal Gevisser, a wholesale food distribution company, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Over the next 15 years, Kirsh Industries, through its listed company, acquired Metro Cash and Carry, Russells furniture, Joshua Doore, Checkers Supermarkets and several other retail companies to become one of the largest trading companies in South Africa.

After a foray into radio in 1974 with Natie, Issie then founded the successful Radio 702 six years later.

Radio 702 was taken over by Primedia some 20 years ago and spearheaded the group’s rapid growth as a leading media company. In addition to Radio 702, Primedia acquired Highveld Stereo, KFM, Cape Talk, Ster Kinekor and a range of other assets.

Issie became the first chairman of Primedia, a post he held until 2001. Under the leadership of Issie and his son William, it grew rapidly into a multi-billion rand business.

Issie also founded a radio station, RAM FM, with offices in Ramallah and Jerusalem, designed to encourage peace in the Middle East. Unfortunately it was closed in 2008.

He was also chairman of the Primedia Foundation and co-ordinated the group’s various corporate social investment programmes until December 2010.

Issie is now back to doing what he loves best, building new businesses. As with Primedia, he is again doing so with William.

He is the chairman of Tritech Media – “a very exciting company”, he says - which he controls jointly with William.

Tritech distributes some of the world’s leading digital content brands in prepaid format, providing digital media, proprietary technology and customised content.

Another business in which he is involved is Fidelity Health and Wellness, dealing in life insurance and disability management.

Fidelity reduces the cost of managed healthcare by utilising skilled, trained and focused nursing practitioners as the gatekeepers in managed care.

Kirsh says: “A good business is driven by good management and competent people who have integrity and passion. If you don’t have passion for what you’re doing, you won’t stay on the bus.”

The three business essentials remain vision, passion and integrity.

He regards his greatest business achievement as the establishment of Radio 702, because of its impact and what it continues to deliver. But he also rates the development of King Food Corporation and Primedia very highly.

A balance in life must be found, he adds. “Whatever I’ve done has been with my family in mind, and with the full support and encouragement of my beloved wife Mushe. I’ve been blessed with a wonderful marriage. I’ve worked impossible hours at times, but it’s always been in balance with my family.”

He was one of the founders and the deputy chairman of the South African Jewish Report until October 2014. “I am most grateful and appreciative that the Jewish Report continues to make a most valuable contribution to the South African Jewish community.”

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD IN HONOUR OF HELEN SUZMAN

LIFETIME ISSIE KIRSH

10 | AWARDS

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“ISSIE KIRSH TAUGHT ME TO CONSTANTLY FOCUS ON GROWING AND DEVELOPING OUR PEOPLE”Benjy Porter | CEO, Legal & Tax

Congratulations to our Chairman Mr Issie Kirsh on being awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The name of Public Protector Thulisile (Thuli) Madonsela is one of the most recognisable in the country – and well beyond our borders.

She gained fame with several of her investigations as Public Protector – an office to which she was appointed for a seven-year term in 2009 to conduct formal inquiries into complaints made by individuals against maladministration in governmental agencies and institutions in which the government is a shareholder.

The most notable investigation and the one which turned her into a household name was into the spending of R246-million of public money on President Jacob Zuma’s homestead at Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal. She found that he had benefited unduly from the project and called upon him to repay money. Her report was met with fierce criticism and opposition from ANC members and the saga is still far from over.

She has investigated several other high-profile cases and has received praise for her efficiency and professionalism.

Madonsela likens her role as Public Protector to the aunt of the Venda chief on his father’s side, known as the makhadzi, a non-political figure who “gives the people a voice while giving the traditional leader a conscience”.

Madonsela was born in Johannesburg in 1962 and grew up in Soweto. She attended high school in Swaziland, where her family originates.

She worked as an assistant teacher from 1980 to 1983. In 1984 she entered the legal profession as a legal and education officer at the Paper Printing Wood and Allied Workers Union where she worked from 1984 until 1987.

She obtained a BA in Law from the University of Swaziland in 1987 and an LLB from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1990. In 1994, she forfeited a Harvard Scholarship to study for an LLM degree because she was involved in the drafting of the South African constitution. She also declined an offer to stand for Parliament in 1994 on the ANC list, believing that holding political office would not be her “best contribution as a human being”.

Since 1987, Madonsela has worked in several government departments and civil society.

She was co-architect of Justice Vision 2000 which looked at changing the administration of justice in South Africa, and was involved in

drafting many laws that have helped transform the South African legal system since 1994. She also participated in several international forums and contributed to key documents.

At the time of her appointment as Public Protector, Madonsela was the only full-time commissioner in the South African Law Reform Commission where, in addition to managing the Commission’s entire programme, she served as the leader for specific projects such as the Statutory Law Revision Project whose focus was constitutional alignment and updating the law; and the Commission’s project on the Review of the Interpretation Act.

She is a co-architect of several policies, including the policy framework that formed the basis of the Ministry for Women, Children and Persons with Disability. She has also held many senior positions in government and civil society, including presiding officer at the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), deputy director at the Justice Department and managing director at the Office of the Status of Women in the Presidency

In addition to being the Public Protector, she is chairperson for the Centre for Reconciliation and Equality Studies and a member of the South African Law Reform Commission.

She has authored and co-authored several publications including books, chapters, journals and handbooks on gender management and gender mainstreaming.

Since her appointment as Public Protector, she has received a string of awards, including two honorary doctorates this year from Stellenbosch and Rhodes universities. Other awards include:

• 2011 – Daily Maverick named her South African Person of the Year for “serving her role as an ombudsman to the exercise of executive power with unwavering commitment to truth”;

• 2014 – Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in the Leaders category and described her as “an inspirational example of what African public officers need to be”;

• 2014 – Glamour Women of the Year awards – named Woman of Courage;

• 2014 – Africa News Network 7 named her South African of the Year;

• 2014 – Transparency International Integrity Award.

12 | AWARDS

CHIVAS HUMANITARIAN AWARD IN HONOUR OF CHIEF RABBI CYRIL HARRIS, Z”D

HUMANITARIAN THULI MADONSELA

Avital (Tali) Nates, in a sense, returned home when she became the founder and director of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre (JHGC) in 2008 – she was almost a natural for the job.

Born in Israel, she married South African Clive Nates in 1985 and they retuned to this country.

Following her BA degree at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and BA (Hons) and MA at Wits, all in history, her first job, which she held for 15 years, was as a history and Holocaust studies lecturer at the SA Board of Jewish Education College of Education for Jewish Studies and Hebrew Teachers.

Holocaust studies probably came naturally to her. Her father, Moses Turner, and uncle, Henryk Turner, were spared during the Holocaust as their names appeared on the famous list of Oskar Schindler – the rest of the family perished.

Her next job from 1997 to 2003 was as head of education at the Foundation for Tolerance Education, followed by two years as a facilitator, trainer and lecturer at Growth through Learning, where she also led human rights missions and organised the South African March of the Living to Auschwitz.

She then worked as director of facilitation at the Vulindlela Network, which specialises in organisational transformation and growth.

The JHGC seeks to raise awareness of the evils of genocide, focusing on the Holocaust and the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and serve as a memorial to the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust and the estimated 800 000 Tutsi victims of the genocide in Rwanda.

In addition, it teaches about the consequences of prejudice, racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia and xenophobia and the dangers of indifference, apathy, and silence.

With the implementation of the 2007 South African national curriculum for grades 9 and 11, which includes Nazi Germany and the Holocaust and a suggested theme on Genocide: a case study of Rwanda, the JHGC is committed to fulfilling the need in assisting provincial education departments, schools and educators with

its human rights curriculum through making available, educator training, learner workshops and resource materials.

Nates has presented at numerous conferences, published many articles and was involved in documentary films made for South African television. She has contributed chapters to a number of books, the latest being God, Faith & Identity from the Ashes: Reflections of Children and Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors, published in the United States in December 2014.

In 2010, she was chosen as one of the top 100 newsworthy and noteworthy women in South Africa (Mail & Guardian Book of South African Women). She acts as a scholar and leader of many Holocaust education missions to Eastern Europe as well as educational missions in South Africa and Rwanda. She is also one of the founders of Holocaust Survivors Services and Rwanda Genocide Survivors Services in Johannesburg. These services offer social, educational and psychological services for survivors and their families.

A long list of her outside activities includes leading the South African/Canadian youth programme to the World Conference on Racism in Durban in 2001; serving on the Gauteng Forum on Democracy and Human Rights in Education (2001-2003); being awarded the Goldman Sachs South African Fellowship for 2004 – 2005 and facilitating a Healing Retreat on Robben Island for the family members of the ex-prisoners (2005).

Her communal activities are as varied, ranging from counsellor and facilitator at Lifeline Johannesburg since 1995, to serving on the boards of Lefika la Phodiso (Art Therapy Centre) (2008-2014) and PROOF: Media for Social Justice (from 2009). She is also programme co-chair and national executive member of Limmud Johannesburg.

First on the list of her hobbies, unsurprisingly, is volunteering, followed by reading, travel, good coffee, deep friendships, exercise, theatre and music.

She says: “My family is very important to me; I visit my mother (she is 89 years old) in Israel a few times a year. I spend quality time holidays with my husband and children. My family supports my work fully!”

14 | AWARDS

KIA COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD

COMMUNITY TALI NATES

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Dov Fedler has been a political cartoonist for The Star for almost 50 years. His name on his birth certificate is Noah David Fedler, but no one has ever called him Noah. Born in the opening stanza of World War II, he saw his first pencil when he was in a pram. His first words were about working for Walt Disney. His first drawings were of Mickey Mouse, Mussolini and Hitler – and he thought that Stalin actually was his Uncle Joe.

His parents came to South Africa from Lithuania just before the Great Depression and Dov was their laatlametjie. The family lived right next door to the Mayfair Shul and the suburb was a happy vibrant hive of all things Jewish. Dov skipped the religion and became best friends with a Lebanese boy. The Fedlers left Mayfair the day the State of Israel was declared, emigrating to the gentrified Greenside, a move which ultimately killed Dov’s mother who passed on just before his bar mitzvah.

Drawing was always his escape, helped by a father who was a printer with an endless supply of paper. His dad wanted him to be a dentist, for the irrefutable logic that he could call himself a doctor but not have to be called out at night. There was no question about Dov going to varsity, only what he would study. The artist wanted fine art, the father said no because he would die penniless and hungry.

They compromised on architecture, which was a spectacular failure. Dov emerged older and wiser, and headed straight to Art College. After a year, he parlayed a credit for the three year course into a job with VZ, one of the country’s leading agencies, today part of Ogilvie Mather. There he was mentored by VZ’s top art director Stuart Wilson, a closet cartoonist himself.

It was at VZ that Dov met veteran arts journalist Percy Baneshik who needed an illustrator for his column in The Rand Daily Mail. The rival Argus Group poached Percy as the arts editor on a brand new paper called The Sunday Chronicle. Dov went with him.

“The Chronicle was a dream newspaper which never made money. I was producing nine to ten drawings a week. It was a grand time. I

had the best apprenticeship,” says Dov.

The Chronicle folded after two years and his bosses were subsumed in the group flagship, The Star. Dov went along in their slipstream, but this time it would be different. An editor insisted the tyro draw political cartoons. He didn’t think he could. He didn’t think he wanted to. But he did.

And that was 50 years ago.

Today he’s a household name, having chronicled South Africa’s history through his pen, starting from John Vorster to Botha, De Klerk, Mandela and now Zuma. His classic rendering of Mandela through a flock of seagulls flying through clouds over Robben Island hours after the great man’s passing remains the pinnacle of his drawing career. He is without doubt the grandmaster of the South African cartooning scene.

His second proudest moment is his biography, Out of Line. Its genesis dates to 1979 when Dov and his wife Dorrine had a yechidus with the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson in New York. Dorrine, a doctor, was instructed to return to attend to the ailments of the soul. Dov’s injunction was simpler: finish your book,” said the great man.

Dov was puzzled. There was no book, he thought. But there was. As inspired as the rabbi was, so too was its journey, a deep introspection of a subject that was intensely Jewish yet championed by non-Jews as one publishing house after another turned down the publishing rights.

He’s 75 now, young not old and still drawing cartoons that set benchmarks for others to aspire to, at a volume that would slay any aspirant entrant to the game.

And he’s still as humble as ever. He’s achieved almost everything imaginable. He’s ticked his bucket list, but he still hasn’t made it to Europe – or Brakpan.

16 | AWARDS

JEWISH REPORT ART, SPORT, SCIENCE & CULTURE AWARD

ART SPORT SCIENCEDOV FEDLER

WRITTEN BY KEVIN RITCHIE | PICTURES BY DAVID BAZOFIN

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When South Africa’s first Constitutional Court was established in 1994, it was not surprising that three of the 11 judges appointed to the bench were Jewish. The President of the Constitutional Court was the enormously respected, anti-apartheid activist Arthur Chaskalson and he was joined by his two fellow co-religionists, Justice Richard Goldstone and Justice Albie Sachs.

Chaskalson was appointed to head the court by President Nelson Mandela, after having served as head of the Legal Resources Centre. Goldstone had made a name for himself as an activist judge striking down parts of the Group Areas Act and having served as chairperson of the Goldstone Commission into “third force” activities prior to the transition to democracy. Sachs, the son of renowned trade union leader Solly Sachs, had had an arm severed in an apartheid era parcel bomb attack on ANC operatives in Mozambique.

The South African Jewish community has always been at the forefront of the law, especially human rights law in the country. When Nelson Mandela tried to obtain legal articles, it was only Lazer Sidelsky who would employ him. Sidelsky and Madiba renewed their friendship after Mandela’s release from jail and upon a visit to Israel in 2000, Mandela enjoyed a reunion with Sidelsky’s son, now a Rabbi.

Mandela wrote in his autobiography, Long Walk To Freedom, that “The law firm was more liberal than most. It was a Jewish firm, and in my experience I have found Jews to be more broad-minded than most whites on issues of race and politics, perhaps because they themselves have historically been victims of prejudice.”

When Mandela and Sidelsky met again, Mandela exclaimed, “My boss is here, my boss is here” and immediately walked over to where Sidelsky was sitting. Sidelsky began to stand up, but Mandela gently placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder and said, “You don’t stand up for me, I stand up for you.”

When Mandela and Sisulu started their law practice, the apartheid government refused them permission to open offices in Johannesburg. Mandela turned to his good friend and Habonim leader, Jules Brodie, to represent him. Brodie succeeded in forcing the government to grant Mandela and Sisulu a permit to practice law in the centre of Johannesburg.

When the Rivonia Trial began, it was once again a team of Jewish

defense attorneys who represented the accused. This included Chaskalson and Joel Joffe. Nat Levy was attorney of record in Pretoria for Mandela and Joel Joffe was attorney of record for the others (except for Kantor).

Hilda Bernstein, the formidable wife of Rusty Bernstein, approached Joffe, after being rebuffed by other lawyers too fearful to act for her husband. Joffe was subsequently also approached by Albertina Sisulu, Annie Goldberg (mother of Dennis Goldberg) and Winnie Mandela. Joffe then secured the services of advocates Chaskalson and George Bizos and persuaded Bram Fischer to act as lead counsel. The accused included Mandela, Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Lionel Bernstein and Dennis Goldberg. Harold Wolpe and Arthur Goldreich escaped. Goldreich fled to Israel where he remained for the remainder of his life. Bob Hepple escaped to London.

James Kantor who was one of the defence lawyers in the Rivonia Trial, was himself arrested and charged with the same crimes as Mandela and the other defendants. Harry Schwarz, a close friend and a well-known politician, stepped in to act as his defence lawyer and would later serve as a member of parliament as well as on the executive of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies.

The involvement of Jewish lawyers echoed the 1956 Treason Trial where once again panels of Jewish lawyers rose to the defense of the accused. Issie Maisels led the defence team. Maisels himself was later President of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies. Also on the defence team were Sydney Kentridge, Ruth Hayman, Norman Rosenberg and Maurice Franks. Joe Slovo decided to conduct his own defense. Defendants who joined Mandela and Slovo in the dock included Ruth First, Leon Levy, Ben Turok, Lionel Forman and Lionel Bernstein.

Kentridge would also famously represent the Biko family at the inquest into the black consciousness leader’s death.

No justice can be given to the profound impact that South African Jews have played in the development of law and particularly human rights law in South Africa. The few mentioned in this article are merely a smattering of the hundreds, if not thousands, of South African Jews who played a role in turning our home into a constitutional democracy, of which we may all be proud.

COURTING WITH THE LAW

BY HOWARD SACKSTEIN

18 | STORY

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20 | AWARDS

Dan Stillerman (28) founded the Excel Academy in 2014, providing interactive, experiential Excel workshops. The goal is “to improve productivity, stimulate problem-solving, and inspire passion and fun.”

Stillerman is an actuary with 10 years of actuarial, business, training and consulting experience.

Excel is used by almost a billion people around the world as a business, decision-making tool. Yet most people barely scratch the

surface when it comes to its functionality.

“We believe in helping people to unlock its power and thereby improve efficiency, productivity and profitability.”

Clients include leading companies, such as Vodacom, Momentum, Discovery, Investec, Liberty, Glencore, Bidvest Bank, and honours students at universities.

The academy operates in Johannesburg and other parts of South Africa and Southern Africa. It will soon begin internationally through online training.

Stillerman regards his main business achievement as making a difference to close to a thousand people’s lives through his workshops in 18 months, with the potential and intention to positively impact millions around the world.

He matriculated from King David Linksfield and holds a BSc (Hons) in actuarial science. He is a member of the Actuarial Society of South Africa and Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries.

He has been an actuarial consultant to several companies and also worked as sales director in an events and entertainment company.

His outside volunteer activities include Miracle Drive Young Drivers, the Chevrah Kadisha, ORT JET and Alma Links.

Genevieve Nathan and Romi Levenstein, both 26, founded their company, Black Sugar Events, in 2013.

Based in Johannesburg, Black Sugar is a specialised events company with a portfolio ranging from corporate events to birthday parties and charity galas.

Levenstein and Nathan are the heart and soul of Black Sugar Events.

The two directors believe they are breaking new ground in the world of entertainment and providing successful and exciting events, tailored to the needs of the client.

“I believe that event planning helps me grow creatively and mentally,” says Nathan. “There is constant change and opportunity to spread our wings and look forward to a challenge because every event is different and we continue to get excited about each client brief that comes our way,” Nathan says.

Born just a month apart, they both matriculated at King David Linksfield and studied together to obtain a pubic relations qualification from Varsity College (where they both came in the top five).

Levenstein worked in events, marketing and sales before cofounding Black Sugar. Nathan also held three jobs, all in fields related to the company, before starting the present business with Levenstein.

Both say it was their goal to “to come together and found the coolest and most forward-thinking events company South Africa had ever seen.”

They have also found time for charity work. Since 2013 they have both been directors of the Feed SA NGO, which helps educate, feed and develop people in the townships. It feeds over 5 000 hungry people a day, assisting 42 beneficiaries, from Alexandra Township, Soweto, Orlando West, Orange Farm, and the West Rand.

YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR

DAN STILLERMAN | EXCEL ACADEMY

GENEVIEVE NATHAN ANDROMI LEVENSTEIN | BLACK SUGAR EVENTS

Jonathan Shapiro (24) is a director of Lesco Manufacturing, a company that designs and manufactures products for the local housing and consumer markets.

Lesco Manufacturing uses two homes for the handicapped, Logwood Village in Muldersdrift and The Hamlet in Regents Park, to help manufacture its products.

A third manufacturing facility is linked to the Deo Gloria Church, where work is provided for homeless people. Lesco provides machinery and equipment to enable the church to produce quality products.

Lesco is responsible for providing work to over 200 people, apart from its 30 direct employees. The business operates in Johannesburg,

Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, the Free State and Namibia.

Lesco is a member of SAFEhouse, an association of organisations in the South African electrical industry, formed to combat the prevalence of unsafe products and services.

He regards getting Lesco listed with the Massbuild group as his greatest business achievement.

His personal business philosophy is based on strong ethics. “Never turn away from a problem, no matter how big or small. Take problems head on and find ways to solve them by including your team. Stay connected to each step of the process.”

Being a family owned business, he says work follows one home, so it is sometimes difficult to balance the two.

Shapiro matriculated from King David Linksfield and holds a marketing diploma from UNISA and a qualification in driving sales force performance from GIBS.

JONATHAN SHAPIRO | LESCO MANUFACTURING

THE CREATIVE COUNCIL YOUNG JEWISH ENTREPRENEURS AWARD

Netanel Block (26) started the Block group last year with the mission of becoming a network of start-ups which use his digital marketing skills and knowledge.

The group funds people lacking access to the internet or any other business essentials and sets up a complete business model. The core of the business relies on digital marketing to bring in jobs for service-based start-ups. Each start-up forms part of the group.

The Block group partners with local people with talent who do not have access to internet and other business essentials, and provides successful applicants with a complete business model free of charge. The package includes: business registration, a website, a marketing strategy and all other necessary business tools for a functional business. The core function of the Block Group is digital marketing. All leads come through a well thought out digital strategy, driving credible leads to the website. Significant research and processes make the user journey as easy as could be in order to bring in as many leads as possible.

He feels his greatest achievement is setting up his own business. “While we have been awarded some substantial contracts, I would have to say that owning my own start-up trumps that.”

He also works as a digital strategist at Aqua Online, a Standard Bank account. Prior to that he was online marketing head for over two years at Digital Planet.

He says: “The trickiest thing for me is managing my start-up on top of a full-time job, wife, baby, family, community responsibilities and friends. This has meant lots of sacrifices and late nights. However, by being organised, results driven and persistent, I am able to squeeze all of this into my week. I am grateful for Shabbos!”

He holds a BCom degree from the University of Johannesburg. Before that he spent a year at an Israeli yeshiva.

Ryan Canin was not yet 21 when he established Gladi8 which provides and develops cutting edge software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to the financial sector, to the technology sector, and to mining and other major industries.

The company has established relationships and partnerships with established businesses locally and abroad.

He feels his greatest achievement is partnering with attorneys Norton

Rose Fulbright in a joint venture that will “revolutionise” the way in which businesses in the financial services sector approach the Financial Intelligence Centre Act which aims to combat money laundering activities and the financing of terrorist and related activities. The product offering is a central FICA repository for the financial services sector.

Galdi8 operates nationally and has 14 employees.

On balancing work, life and community, he says: “I don’t create silos in my life between different ventures, be they business or nonprofit. I do however ensure that I am home with my partner every night from 7-9 and try and create protected pockets of time on the weekend to grow my personal relationships. Otherwise the rest of my time is spent on a mix of business and non-profit, both of which give me much pleasure.””

He has gained recognition nationally and internationally in several fields.

He was one of only three pupils ever to be elected both mini-mayor of Johannesburg while at primary school and mayor of the Junior City Council when he was at high school. He was also a member of the provincial schools’ debating team.

He graduated with a BSc Engineering from Wits in 2013.

YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR

NETANEL BLOCK | BLOCK GROUP

RYAN CANIN | GLADI8

Trevor Bernberg (29), who has owned and run Point Blank Marketing Communications for the past six years, calls himself an eccentric entrepreneur.

He grew up in Cape Town and obtained a BBus Sci (Hons) degree in finance and economics from UCT in 2008.

The next year he founded his own company in Johannesburg.

Point Blank is a below the line (BTL) marketing agency providing

a national footprint with its 18 employees to direct consumer interaction through staffing, branding and events.

It has developed its own internal integrated system, which has taken four years of work.

The company has applied for a patent of its mobile data collection application - the Engn App – used by staff at promotional sites to record consumer demographic information and provide brands with insight into point of sale and consumer driven decisions.

He regards his two greatest business achievements as developing the two software products and landing blue-chip clients, such as Cell C, BATSA, Pernod Ricard, Elizabeth Arden and Primedia Unlimited.

“I am a firm believer that you can only achieve from hard work. I also believe in the saying, ‘If you want something done, give it to a busy man’. My success has resulted from never giving up and not taking ‘no’ for an answer – our agency culture does not believe that ‘no’ exists in the dictionary.”

TREVOR BERNBERG | POINT BLANK MARKETING AND COMUNICATION

THE CREATIVE COUNCIL YOUNG JEWISH ENTREPRENEURS AWARD

SAJR.CO.ZA | 21

YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR

WINNERCLAUDIA SWARTZBERG | TOP DOG

Claudia Swartzberg is a very accomplished all-rounder. She is CEO of her own business, is a qualified actuary, and has excelled at tennis, gymnastics, dance and karate.

The business, Top Dog Education, founded in 2010, is an online, technology-led education company, focusing on both youth and adults. It operates internationally, providing digital, interactive education.

Swartzberg says: “We source masters of the subject matter internationally for the topics we provide.

“Having three actuaries in the company, we have a huge passion for the value data analytics can add to education. Our learning platform is built around data analytics that help us understand our users and provides them with a personalised learning path suited best to their needs.”

Top Dog aims to expose learners to the best education offering on a global level, regardless of their academic level or socio-economic background.

The products have promoted critical thinking and a deep understanding of the subject.

She lists her greatest business achievements as hitting three million users and taking a group of previously disadvantaged learners who were achieving a 65% matric pass rate to just over 96%.

Before founding her own company, she worked at Investec in treasury, sales and structuring, and Blue Label Investments as a business analyst and executive financial adviser.

Swartzberg’s personal business philosophy is to add value and never give up.

THE CREATIVE COUNCIL YOUNG JEWISH ENTREPRENEURS AWARD

22 | AWARDS

A PROUD TRADITION OF CREATING JOBS

BY STEVEN GRUZD

A few weeks ago, I was chatting with a small group of non-Jewish colleagues from work. The conversation turned to the Jewish community. Trying a little experiment, I asked, “How many Jews do you think there are in the country?” Their responses ranged from estimates of half a million to 1.5 million. They were genuinely astounded when I told them that the current figure is roughly 75 000 or so.

They began to catalogue significant Jewish contributions to South Africa in fields as diverse as medicine and the arts, sport and culture, science and, especially, business and industry. When it comes to developing South Africa commercially and creating jobs, the Jewish community undoubtedly punches above its weight.

This is not a new phenomenon. At formative times in South African history, Jews were instrumental in developing nascent industries. From the travelling smouse who supplied small settlements and towns with essential goods across the land to the Mosenthal brothers in the 1850s, who imported Angora goats from Asia to start the mohair industry. Or the Jewish de Pass brothers, who dominated ship-owning in the Cape and hence the sealing, whaling and fishing industries until the 1880s. Many Jews became shopkeepers and hotel proprietors in small towns.

Jews helped to start ostrich farming in Oudtshoorn, and they played a major role in South Africa’s burgeoning diamond and gold industries at the same time. The new city of gold, Johannesburg, was once nicknamed “Jewburg” by its detractors, reflecting Jewish commercial dominance.

Today, South African Jews have been behind corporate giants in many sectors: manufacturing, retail, banking, insurance, hotels, casinos and many more besides. Although difficult to quantify, collectively these firms have created many hundreds of thousands of jobs nationwide, and have contributed to building a better country.

Jewish entrepreneurs and organisations are also looking at ways to give back to the country, by supporting their fellow young South Africans. ORT-JET is using the successful mentorship model pioneered within the Jewish community to also focus on nurturing entrepreneurial talent in the broader community, including at high school level in townships. The South African Jewish Board of Deputies hosts B-JEN, the Black-Jewish Entrepreneurship Network, which started in Cape Town and then moved to Johannesburg. It’s a networking forum that brings together Jewish and black entrepreneurs to develop potential business opportunities. At its quarterly gatherings, budding entrepreneurs hear inspirational speakers and get two minutes to pitch a viable business idea to judges who pledge seed capital.

B-JEN is run in partnership with the South African Black Entrepreneurs’ Forum, and has brought together over 100 entrepreneurs. The Cape Board has also recently launched the Mensch Network, another initiative to connect young Jewish social entrepreneurs to areas of need in South Africa, and to one another.

Undoubtedly, the South African Jewish community will continue to create jobs and opportunities for many years to come – a critical endeavour, given our nation’s crippling unemployment figures.

24 | STORY

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As a working woman – news editor for Eyewitness News on Radio 702 and 947 – Benita Levin was warned one could not operate in the news world and be a mom. She then had two children in two years and is still in her job. She has also become an accredited life coach since having her children.

“Incorporating those skills into my role as a news editor has been of enormous value, personally and professionally,” she says.

She matriculated in 1989 as head girl at Carmel College in Durban and obtained her BA (Hons) degree in English at UCT in 1993.

She began her broadcasting career at the SABC in 1994, where she was a news journalist and anchor for several stations until 1997. She then moved to East Coast Radio in Durban until 2000 as a news anchor and co-presenter of two programmes. This was followed by stints at 5FM and Classic FM in Johannesburg.

In 2002, she joined Primedia Broadcasting, where she has remained ever since. She is news editor for Radio 702 and 947 Eyewitness News, and was also sports editor and news editor for 947.

She says Primedia broadcasting is a media brand with courage, vision and purpose. It is the home of premium radio stations: 947, 702, KFM, and CapeTalk, award-winning news from Eye Witness News, as well as social initiatives: Lead SA and Crime Line.

As a life coach, she focuses on life coaching for people looking to improve various aspects of their lives, focusing on finding a life balance for working mothers, managing stress and dating and romance for singles.

Levin was invited to the International Women Media Leaders (IWMF) Conference in Washington in 2011, where news editors from around the globe met to discuss leadership in newsrooms. She is also a well-known public speaker on a wide variety of platforms.

“My nickname at work is ‘Mama-B’, because I’ve become a sounding board to many colleagues. I truly believe the more human, ‘motherly’ touch is crucial in the hard news world. It helps me motivate and mentor young, talented news people. I can also help them find the balance between work and home life,” she says.

Her business philosophy, in her own words is: “Be true to yourself. Guide others from a place of integrity. Trust your instincts.”

She lists her recreational activities a life coaching, public speaking, sport, travel and “future food critic”.

WOMAN LEADERSHIPBENITA LEVIN | EYE WITNESS NEWS (EWN)

EUROPCAR JEWISH WOMAN IN LEADERSHIP AWARD

Joy Coplan, a Johannesburg city councillor since 2006, grew up in Cape Town, where she gravitated to the African National Congress at a young age.

After completing her matric, she completed her BA and an education diploma at UCT. There she joined Albie Sacks, now a retired Constitutional Court judge, in the Leadership of the Modern World Society, that focused on left-wing politics.

She attended the 1955 Congress of the People in Kliptown, where the Freedom Charter was adopted, the basis of ANC policy ever since.

In 1957, Coplan participated in a series of protests against apartheid policies, particularly its actions to end open universities. She did not regard herself as a political activist, but was merely fighting for an equal and decent quality of life for all South Africans.

After graduating, she married and relocated to Zimbabwe for six years. The family then settled in Vereeniging. She had four children, in whom she says she instilled a mentality of selflessness and a hunger to better the world and create a decent life for all.

“My children are a great testament to my leadership skills,” she says.

In 1976, Coplan created the Oxford Synagogue Social Action Committee (OSSAC) at the Oxford Shul, where Rabbi Norman Bernhard had a vision to develop the lives of domestic workers in the community.

In the 1980s, she joined the Black Sash and Jews for Social Justice and was involved in protest action programmes focusing on the release of Nelson Mandela.

In 1990, when the ANC was unbanned, Coplan helped develop two new ANC branches in northern Johannesburg.

She has worked with several NGOs in Alexandra. In 1990, she joined the Alex Arts Centre to help develop creative talent there and in 1999 joined the Adapt group to help deal with abuse. She also participated in other community projects, such as one in Diepsloot to combat child abuse.

She works to support MIAGI (Music is a Great Investment), which has benefitted 12 000 underprivileged children through music education.

She was a commercial property broker for 32 years.

JOY COPLAN | CITY OF JOHANNESBURG

26 | AWARDS

Helen Fraser heads the Nashua Children’s Charity Foundation (NCCF), which tends to the essential needs of children from tots to 18 years old - providing groceries, cleaning material, toiletries, school and educational provisions as well as seeing to building renovations and additions.

Fraser was involved in Nashua’s charitable endeavours even before the establishment of the NCCF. When the volume of requests grew larger, the company saw the need to formalise the process and it turned to Fraser for help and guidance.

She accepted the responsibility of managing Nashua’s ongoing CSI projects but insisted that the focus would be entirely on children and that the NCCF be registered formally.

Over time, a third guiding principle was added, that the charity be run as a “sustainable living foundation”, not simply handing over cheques to organisations and then walking away thinking the problem was solved.

The NCCF – a volunteer organisation with about 25 members - visits the charities that appeal to them for help, assesses their individual needs and tries to provide for them in a way that promotes sustainable living and improves the lives of the children supported by those charities.

Every day Fraser and her team are in townships all over the country doing what they can to make South Africa a better place – every week they buy roughly R200 000 worth of food, cleaning material, toiletries and educational equipment for distribution on a rotational basis to the 72 children’s organisations in the NCCF’s permanent portfolio, with between 20 and 22 charities receiving goods each month.

The NCCF assists approximately 15 000 children with 600 000 meals every month, including two meals a day and a school lunch pack per child.

Fraser regards her greatest business achievement as founding the successful Nashua Children’s Charity Foundation and growing the support from two to 72 children’s charities in less than 10 years.

Fraser is married, but when asked how she deals with her work, life and community balance, she replies: “I don’t, and am always having my family complain as I am a workaholic.” But she still finds time for cycling, walking, reading and the piano.

WOMAN LEADERSHIPHELEN FRASER | NASHUA CHILDREN’S CHARITY FOUNDATION

EUROPCAR JEWISH WOMAN IN LEADERSHIP AWARD

NIKI BREGER | NICCI BOUTIQUES

Nicci Boutique is a chain of 10 upmarket stores offering high fashion from clothing and shoes to bags and accessories. It is a family business, run by Niki Breger, her husband Clive and her parents Charles and Shirley Lab.

Niki is responsible for marketing and communication and with Shirley does the sourcing and international buying, as well as co-ordinating the boutique’s private labels.

In 1995 they acquired Nicci Boutique from Carter Harris (the name of the boutique is coincidental – it was called that before Niki became involved in it).

Niki describes the business as a “multi-brand, retail clothing boutique chain”.

“Our uniqueness is that we manufacture our own locally produced, exclusive Nicci and Cocoon labels as well as stocking assorted merchandise sourced from Paris and Italy. We are one of the very few boutique chains in South Africa.”

She regards growing the business organically during challenging times as their greatest achievement.

“We have won a Fair Lady Magazine Retail Award. We have in the past come first in an independent Sandton City survey which assessed service excellence. Nicci has been voted ‘Best Boutique’ in an independent Best of Joburg survey for nine consecutive years,” she says.

The stores are in select centres in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town, employing 60 people.

Johannesburg-born Breger holds a diploma in fashion design and management.

Her first job in 1987 was as a sales assistant at the Oh Yes Boutique. She moved to Carter Harris Corporate Clothing in 1989, becoming head designer, before the family bought Nicci’s from it in 1995.

She balances her life carefully. “My husband (and partner) Clive and I make a point of not bringing our work pressures into our home life. We embrace being at home with our three children and really strive to be present not only in body but in mind too. Keeping Shabbos has also helped us escape the daily work pressures and step off the proverbial treadmill. This is especially helpful as Saturday is notoriously the busiest day in retail. We ensure that we have holidays together as a family whenever possible.”

SAJR.CO.ZA | 27

Kim Feinberg has spent her working life with NGOs, recording history and improving the lives of people, especially children.

She helped found the Tomorrow Trust in 2006, where she is currently the CEO. The trust supports orphaned and vulnerable children by providing

holistic education, focusing on academic and life skills, and empowering them to reach their full potential as self-sustaining and proactive members of society.

The Trusts seeks out the students who are the most vulnerable and marginalised and have the greatest potential to reverse the course of their futures. In her message in the 2014 Trust report, Feinberg says, “In 9 years we now have 160 alumni all working in top companies, doctors and nurses in the hospitals and teachers in our schools. They are striking examples that your circumstances and background do not dictate who you are or who you can become.”

The trust provides both academic and psychosocial support. “We evaluate them as whole individuals—with intricate and specialised needs that cannot be met by a ‘one size fits all’ mentality towards education.”

She began her working career in 1993 with Yad Vashem South Africa where she interviewed Holocaust survivors to provide an oral history of their experiences and raised funds for the museum.From 1995, she spent six years chronicling first-hand accounts of holocaust survivors for the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History project, run by the Shoah Foundation, established by Steven Spielberg in 1994. She also recorded testimonies in this country for the foundation, which aims to overcome prejudice, intolerance and bigotry through the educational use of the foundation’s visual history testimonies.

From 1997 – 2005 she was involved with the Foundation for Tolerance Education, which she ran as CEO.

For three years from 2002, she sat on the SA Human Rights Commission forum for education, which implements human rights through education.

She was a founding director of the Apartheid Museum from 2000 to 2004. She was also a member of its education committee.

She spent five years, from 2001 to 2006, as co-director of Can-Can-Kidz, a concept that includes a series of books to enhance positive self-awareness and emotional intelligence in children. The Department of Education bought Can-Can-Kidz to supply to all mobile school libraries.

Feinberg consulted on the establishment of City Year in South Africa from 2002 to 2005, which included acting as an adviser to former President Bill Clinton. The organisation helps to build a strong democracy through three interconnected civic strategies: citizen service, civic leadership, and social entrepreneurship.

She has been an Ashoka fellow since 2004 – Ashoka is the largest network of social entrepreneurs worldwide.

From 2006 to 2007 she was executive project facilitator and researcher for the UNISA Primedia Academic Chair of Holocaust and Genocide Studies launch.

Feinberg trained with Sydney Dance Company Australia for six months in 1981. She attended the Lee Strasberg Acting Institute in Los Angeles between 1982 and 1985, and then completed a beauty therapy course.

WOMAN LEADERSHIPKIM FEINBERG | TOMORROW TRUST

EUROPCAR JEWISH WOMAN IN LEADERSHIP AWARD

Ariella Kuper has the unusual distinction of being nominated in two separate Achiever Award categories - Absa Entrepreneur and Europcar Women in Leadership.

Born in Johannesburg, her leadership qualities and business flair came to the fore while she was still studying. She

obtained first class passes in all her degrees - BA Joint Honours in Economics and Economic History (1995) - she was awarded the postgraduate merit award scholarship in her honours year; MBA, University of Cape Town Graduate Business School (2002), where she was awarded the MBA Haniel Fellowship bursary; and MBA Exchange Scholarship; Columbia Business School, New York, USA. She lectured at Wits and was an envoy for six weeks on an economics study trip to Webster University in Vienna, Austria.

In her MBA, she was class president and chief organiser for a women in business conference. While at Columbia, she presented a paper at an international conference on corporate social responsibility and diversity in 2003, was a selected delegate to the Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference on the crisis in the Middle East and was a member of Columbia Women in Business.

She has risen to senior management positions in every enterprise she joined, then going on to found her own businesses.

She has been a member of a long list of NGOs and professional bodies. These include:• 2015 - Board of the SA Institute of Auctioneers. She is the only

female board member;• 2010 - 2015 - National Executive Committee member, ORT

South Africa and member of Western Cape ORT committee. • 2009 - 2015 - WIZO (Bnoth Zion), Cape Town, committee

member and fundraiser for Izuko la Ikwazi;• 2014 - 2015 - member of the South African Restructuring and

Insolvency Practitioners Institute;• 2011 - 2015 - member of the Maritime Law Association;• 2009 - 2011 - appointed to team for scoping and developing

the South African auctioneering industry.

She has raised over R36 million as a charity auctioneer, including R11 million for the MAD Foundation (Make a Difference), assisting disadvantaged children. Ariella is considered South Africa’s leading female auctioneer and has auctioned for the likes of Nelson Mandela, FW de Klerk (2012 to 2015), Fifa opening gala dinner (2010), Desmond Tutu (2015) and Helen Zille (2013 - 2014).

Among her many notable achievements are:• 2015 - Finalist for the August 2015 ceremony for CEOs as

Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government Award;

• 2015 - Nominated for Standard Bank’s Top Female Entrepreneur Award and Businessman Award;

• Recently nominated for the CNBC/Forbes Africa All Africa Business Leaders Award - Southern Africa Business Woman of the Year 2015;

• 2012 and 2014 - Finalist, CEO Communication’s SA Most Influential Women in Business and Government;

She says: “Women offer unique skills that complement male decision-making. Our conviction and practical approach combined with a consideration of all parties involved, invariably leads to a more positive solution that is mutually beneficial and fairly received.”

ARIELLA KUPER | CLEAR ASSET

28 | AWARDS

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WOMAN LEADERSHIPEUROPCAR JEWISH WOMAN IN LEADERSHIP AWARD

MICHELLE LISSOOS | THINK AHEAD EDUCATION

Think Ahead Education Solutions, headed by Michelle Lissoos, focuses on the integration of technology into teaching and learning to empower teachers and students.

Launched in 2009, Think Ahead is the education partner of the Core Group, the exclusive distributors of Apple in South Africa and selected African territories.

Think Ahead supplies schools with a full technology integration solution – hardware (with the focus on Apple solutions), teacher training, parent and learner support and digital content – to ensure true 21st century learning to meet the needs of today’s skills’ environment.

It operates in all nine provinces, in over 300 schools, and has a team of 20 staff, working in private, public, rural and township schools.

In disadvantaged communities, the iSchoolAfrica programme, implemented by Think Ahead, takes facilitators and mobile iPad labs preloaded with content into disadvantaged communities.

She says the business is not about the equipment, but the full educational solution.

“We ensure teachers are trained adequately so that technology is a tool for success. Our team are primarily ex-teachers – integrating technology into the curriculum. We are not a technology company but an education company using technology as a tool to enrich learning.

“We also ensure that ‘communities of best practice’ are set up to support teachers, to ensure South African teachers have local and international support and access to best of breed solutions. We do this through ongoing community events, Facebook communities and case studies”.

She regards the success of the iSchoolAfrica solution as her greatest business achievement. It gives access to technology to over 160 disadvantaged, under-resourced schools in a sustainable, cost-effective way

“One of our key successes and achievements is our reputation and the relationships we have achieved with partner schools.”

Her personal business philosophy is: “You need to love what you do, and feel that what you do matters.This is critical – all else will follow. People are more important than the goods.”

Lissoos matriculated from King David High School Victory Park and obtained a BA degree. Her outside activities are charity work, reading and film. She says her charity work gives her perspective.

Brenda Woodward, general manager of the East London City branch of Damelin College, makes a significant contribution to her environment in all her endeavours.

This is perhaps best illustrated by her achievements in the nine months she and her family spent in Israel between July 2006 and March 2007. They found themselves in the middle of the war between Israel and Lebanon.

She addressed international groups that came to their absorption centre and was interviewed by the foreign press as well as Israel Channel 2.

She accompanied visitors on tours and collected $1 million for the Keren Hayesod foundation, to rebuild schools and libraries destroyed in northern Israel and Galilee.

Her children, who are adults, remained in Israel when she and her husband returned to this country.

Woodward matriculated from Queenstown Girls’ High School and obtained a BCom degree, specialising in industrial psychology, applied systems development and human resource management.

She has worked in human resources, and logistics and lectured at Rhodes University, as well as trained people in information technology.

She regards two business achievements as her greatest.

The first was training 5 000 people in three years in a local government organisation on various computer packages, sometimes with major language barriers and learners with limited education, making sure that service delivery improved.

The second was taking computer training into a school for students with special needs when people told her she was wasting her time. That programme is still running and those children have an increased opportunity to find employment.

Her personal business philosophy is: “Success only happens when you are prepared to take every opportunity that is given to you and make the best out of every bad situation.”

She is a member of the Computer Society of South Africa and of the Institute of Business Management of South Africa and an associate member of the Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology of South Africa.

She counsels students and people with depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder.

To relax her mind she grows herbs and does gardening.

BRENDA WOODWARD | DAMELIN COLLEGE

30 | AWARDS

Natalie Knight received a Lifetime Achievement Award for Africa in the Arts and Culture Sector at the 2014 CEO Magazine’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government Awards.

Her association with the world of art goes back to her BA degree at Wits, when she majored in the history of art and the history of drama – although she followed this up with a diploma in law.

She has also written two musical plays that were professionally produced.

She operated the Natalie Knight Gallery in Hyde Park between 1980 and 1995, where she exhibited international art and promoted little-known black artists who have now achieved international recognition.

She has curated several exhibitions featuring art work inspired by Nelson Mandela, including We Love Mandela, at South Africa House, Trafalgar Square, London in October 2013 and Images of Mandela, in Johannesburg in May 2015, Mandela@90 (2008) for the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg and Mandela@94 at the Origins Centre at Wits.

A renowned collector and documenter of Ndebele and Shangaan art, Knight produced an exhibition and audiovisual programme with Suzanne Priebatsch, Designs of the Ndebele, for the Smithsonian Institutions Travelling Exhibitions in Washington DC, which toured the USA from 1979 -1981.

They also published Ndebele Images (1983) and Art of the Ndebele: Evolution of a Cultural Identity for the Atlanta International Museum in USA in 2000.

Items of beadwork from the Knight and Priebatsch collection have been acquired by African Art Museums around the world.

In 2012, Knight and Priebatsch donated their research material and photographs to the archives of the African Art Museum of the Smithsonian Institution Washington D.C.

With Nessa Liebhammer, Knight curated Dungamanzi/Stirring Waters at the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 2007 and l’Afrique: A Tribute to Maria-Stein-Lessing and Leopold Spiegel at Museum Africa in 2009, editing the accompanying book.

She served as art curator for the West Campus at Wits from 2009 to 2012.

Knight contributed to and edited Divination and Healing at Museum Africa 2013.

She currently serves as a voluntary business mentor for ORT JET.

WOMAN LEADERSHIPNATALIE KNIGHT | THE ART SOURCE

EUROPCAR JEWISH WOMAN IN LEADERSHIP AWARD

Glynnis Breytenbach (54) had a distinguished legal career before becoming a Member of Parliament in 2014, although she has known her share of controversy.

She was born in Kimberley where she attended school.

She holds BLuris and LLB degrees from Wits and the University of the Orange Free State as well as a diploma in constitutional law. She is an advocate of the High Court of South Africa.

Breytenbach worked as a prosecutor in Johannesburg from 1989 to 2002, moving on to become a state advocate from 2002 to 2009 in the Pretoria office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

In 2009 she left to co-found the Specialised Commercial Crime Unit in Pretoria, where she worked as senior deputy director and regional head until January 2014.

At that time she resigned from the National Prosecuting Authority – under which the Specialised Commercial Crime Unit falls.

After a lengthy disciplinary hearing in which she was acquitted of all charges against her related to the refusal of the national director of Public Prosecutions to charge a politically well-connected individual.

She joined the Democratic Alliance prior to the 2014 general elections and was elected as a Member of Parliament that year.

She serves as the shadow Minister of Justice and is the Democratic Alliance spokesperson for Justice.

Currently the head of the Pretoria Moot constituency, she serves on a number of committees and panels:• Gauteng North provincial executive committee of the

Democratic Alliance;• Parliamentary Portfolio Committee for Justice and Correctional

Services;• Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee for Nkandla;• Parliamentary Ethics Committee;• Chairperson of the Legal Federal Commission of the Democratic

Alliance;• Member of the Federal Council of the Democratic Alliance.

She regards her greatest achievement as succeeding in forcing the National Prosecuting Authority to proceed with criminal charges against Richard Mdluli, former head of police intelligence, in spite of the protection of the President.

Her personal business philosophy is: “If you make a mistake, acknowledge it and fix it. Never, ever, ever ever, ever give up.”

GLYNNIS BREYTENBACH | PARLIAMENT

SAJR.CO.ZA | 31

WOMAN LEADERSHIPEUROPCAR JEWISH WOMAN IN LEADERSHIP AWARD

Since Raelene Tradonsky joined the King David Schools Foundation as co-director five years ago, the funds pledged to it have increased no less than 70 fold, from R2-million a year to pledges today totaling more than R140-million.

The main activity of the foundation is fundraising for the sustainability of King David Schools.

She says, “We have concentrated on building an endowment fund that talks to the sustainability of the institution, which is the largest network of Jewish day schools in the southern hemisphere (possibly the world) with more than 3000 students.”

Her financial and marketing background equip her well for the job. After matriculating from King David Linksfield, she became a chartered accountant and worked at a leading firm before joining the Dimension Data Group in 1993. Initially employed as PA to the Financial Director, she “quickly discovered my forté lay in sales and dealing with people” and moved into the sales environment, joining the new DiData startup company ‘Omnilink’, a joint venture between Dimension Data, Nedcor and Old Mutual.

She later moved from sales into retention of customers in another group company, managing all the cancellations that came in.

While working in commerce, she did voluntary fundraising for the Selwyn Segal hostel.

When she was offered the King David post, she says she had come to a point in her career where she was in a position to ‘pay it forward’ and give back to the community.

She herself had been a ‘subsidy kid’ and understood first-hand what it was to have someone pay for her education.

She says King David Schools takes on the responsibility of being a community school, offering a Jewish education of excellence to all Jewish children, irrespective of their parents’ financial needs.

On balancing the different aspects of her life she says:”I am very blessed to have an incredible support system, led by a wonderfully supportive husband of 25 years. We have raised independent children who understand that a happy and fulfilled mother makes happy children and who have an appreciation for the work done for the larger community.”

She loves gyming, reading and most of all travel.

RAELENE TRADONSKY | KING DAVID SCHOOLS FOUNDATION

Shareen Richter is not a comedienne, but it is her job to make people laugh, and laugh with a purpose. She is the founder and owner of Africa’s largest and most successful laughter coaching organisation, called simply, Laughter Coaching cc.

She has trained both locally and internationally, including many of South Africa’s top companies, more than 40 000 people and she is frequently commissioned for government work.

She has spoken at the Tedx conference in Johannesburg, streamed live to over 70 countries.

Richter has appeared on CNN, CBS, FOX, ABC and NBC News. She appears regularly on TV, radio and in print in South Africa. She has spoken and run workshops in the USA and appeared on radio and TV in Canada, the UK and Africa.

Laughter Coaching was a finalist in the 702 Sage Pastel Small Business Awards.

The mission of the business is effectively to deliver stress free happy people, organisations and companies. Organisations and businesses with a happy culture and happy employees have more motivated staff, who take less sick leave, work better as a team and have a greater commitment to the organisation.

Richter explains: “Laughter Coaching is unique and one of only a handful of companies in the world that delivers happiness. I took a concept and created a corporate business and programmes from something that was just a social activity.”

She is passionate about giving people hope, bringing happiness and giving back to community. An official ambassador for the Smile Foundation in South Africa, she also uses her media exposure to help create awareness and support for disadvantaged children in dire need of facial reconstruction. She gives time to run laughter and happiness sessions and speak at conferences and functions for many Jewish organisations

Richter was also a best-selling author on Amazon in 2015.

Richter (45) holds several qualifications - B Com (Wits), B Com (Hons) (Unisa), CLYT (International School of laughter – India), Science of Happiness (University of California, Berkley).

She and her husband have three children. “It’s my undisturbed family time which I treasure,” she says.

SHAREEN RICHTER | LAUGHING COACH

32 | AWARDS

Prominent businesswoman and communal leader, Reeva Forman has achieved significant success in both business and community.

Communally, her latest position is honorary life vice-president of the SA Zionist Federation.

In 1994, when Forman was chairman of Temple Israel in Hillbrow, the synagogue was going to be sold because of the changing demographics in the neighbourhood. She was instrumental in saving the premises as a synagogue. The building is today also a heritage site and an outreach centre for Jews still living in the area, as well as offering space for Afrika Tikkun’s outreach services.

She became one of the founding members of Afrika Tikkun.

She joined the SA Jewish Board of Deputies in 1998, the start of what she terms “a more conscious career of service to the Jewish community of South Africa”.

In 2002 she became active in the SA Zionist Federation, beginning a phase of Zionist activism that continues to this day.

After the 2001 UN Durban conference, with its anti-Semitic and anti-Israel focus, she initiated the Israel Now Tour to help people understand the reality on the ground. This now includes the Israel Now opinion-makers tour. Within six years she had taken over 600 people to Israel.

Her main business ventures are cosmetics company Reeva Forman and property company Cherry and Joe Investments. Reeva Beauty & Health operates via direct marketing to distributors who sell directly to the public. Today Reeva is integrated with e-commerce fast-moving consumer goods – she was a pioneer in this area.

The business operates in South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia and Lesotho through more than 500 independent distributors and four full-time staff.

Under apartheid she helped empower black entrepreneurs as a “humanitarian activist”.

She regards her greatest business achievement as winning the SA Businesswoman of the year award in 1983 and buying back the Reeva Forman Building in 2004 – it was sold earlier during a difficult business period.

She was the first woman in South Africa to be invited to join the Young Presidents Organisation.

She holds a BA (Hons) degree In Psychology. In the 1970s she was a model – the country’s top model for two years running.

WOMAN LEADERSHIPREEVA FORMAN | REEVA

EUROPCAR JEWISH WOMAN IN LEADERSHIP AWARD

Rhona Solomon qualified as a nurse in 1978 and had a string of jobs in and outside of her profession until four years ago when, at the age of 53, she established not one, but two successful businesses.

Complete Nursing Agency is a recruitment and placement company that specialises in finding work for nurses and care-givers who have the skills, experience and training to contribute positively to the lives of those they assist, with frail care, post-hospitalisation, palliative care, neo-natal care or any form of medical or home care.

The team ranges from care workers to highly qualified nursing sisters, guaranteeing the best and most advanced nursing care to each and every person.

“Nursing and nurturing is our passion, and we make it our business to care for the people we serve physically, mentally and emotionally,” she says.

Weiners Training Development Academy trains nurses and care-givers to a high level, and allows Complete Nursing to assist with work placement for top students.

A wound care section will be launched soon.

The agency arose out of the need to find her own mother a home care companion - the same person who still works in her mother’s home years later. Solomon realised the importance of fitting the right caregiver to the right patient. It is the premise upon which the company is built. Solomon believes in a personal touch being the core of the success of her business. She remains in direct contact with each client.

She adds: “My business has been a life changer. I started this business with an idea and no capital and very little real businesses experience, but the need to learn and the willingness to learn have made the business successful.”

She followed her nursing qualification with a public relations diploma and a diploma in personnel management and training. She then had a variety of jobs until finally starting her businesses in 2012. Revenue has increased eight-fold since the first year and the company is expecting up to 50 per cent revenue growth next year.

Solomon is married, with two children, one of whom is in the business.

RHONA ANNE SOLOMON | COMPLETE NURSING

34 | AWARDS

Wendy Kahn is in her ninth year as national director of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies, whose main responsibility is upholding the civil liberties of Jewish South Africans.

As the democratically elected representative body of SA Jewry, it links the community and a range of people and bodies in the broader South Africa. This includes interaction with government, political parties, NGOs, other faith

groups, the diplomatic community and the media.

The Board monitors and responds to anti-Semitism, as well as promoting the community locally and internationally. Ten cases were lodged in recent years with the SA Human Rights Commission and a further five criminal cases instituted.

“Every incident is evaluated and appropriate action taken,” she says.

A current challenge in which she is involved in is the intimidation and threats leveled at Jewish South Africans by the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement.

She lists eight campaigns she has developed and led or co-ordinated as director of the Board:• The Jewish Xenophobia Relief Programme in 2008 and

2015 – a response to the suffering of foreign nationals at shelters and displacement camps, involving thousands of Jewish volunteers;

• Public sector strike 2010 - an effort by SA Jewry to assist in hospitals to ensure continued patient care;

• UN Durban Review Conference 2008 – representing SA in preparing for the International Jewish response to the UNHRC in Geneva;

• A response to the Russell Tribunal for Palestine held in Cape Town in 2011 – a “kangaroo court”;

• Jewish 2010 – to promote the World Cup and the remarkable local Jewish community to international Jewry;

• Make Us Count – a campaign before all elections to get the Jewish community involved;

• Responding to the anti-social media - interacting with the authorities to find ways to take action against offenders in incidents of threats and hate speech levelled at Jews over the past two years in social media;

• Kippa night at the movies – following a physical assault on three boys, a campaign to send the message that South Africans would not tolerate this type of hatred

From 1995 she helped launch and run the He’atid Leadership Programme which took hundreds of South African leaders to Israel to acquire leadership and entrepreneurship skills. Before that, she worked for Eskom for five years.

Kahn studied Industrial Psychology at Wits and then completed a PDM at the Wits Business School.

WOMAN LEADERSHIPEUROPCAR JEWISH WOMAN IN LEADERSHIP AWARD

WENDY KAHN | SAJBD

Marlene Bethlehem has had three overlapping public careers – sportswoman, Jewish communal leadership and South African national involvement – reaching great heights in all of them. Her local Jewish communal career spans several organisations, all in leadership capacities.

She was chairperson of the national executive of the Jewish Women’s Benevolent Society from 1981 to 1984, honorary life vice president in 1987 and honorary life president in 2012. She was chairman of the executive of Jewish Communal Services from 1986 to 1992, when she was elected honorary life vice president.

Bethlehem served on the Transvaal council of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies from 1989

and in 1992 she was elected chairperson of the council. In 1995 she was elected national chairperson of the Board - the first woman to hold that office in the 90 years of the Board’s existence. This was followed by four years as national president of the Board from 1999 – 2003. She has been co-chairperson of the Board’s country communities committee since 2012. While chairing the Board, she served for a year as chairperson of the committee for the disbursement of the Swiss Banks Humanitarian Fund for Needy Holocaust Survivors.

She has held office in many other local bodies: 1999 - 2014 as a founding board member of the SA Jewish Report; since 2002 a governor of the Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris Communal Centre; and board member and patron of Africa Tikkun.

Since 1998, she has served on a number of international Jewish committees: vice president and a trustee of the Commonwealth Jewish Council; representative at the Claims Conference New York; and elected vice-president of the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture based in New York. She is also a member of the African Jewish Congress.

On a national level, Bethlehem was a peace monitor during the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994. She was also an observer to the 2006 Palestinian elections. In September 2003 President Thabo Mbeki appointed her as deputy chairperson of the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, a post she held for 10 years. She now serves on the selection committee for new commissioners.

Her sporting ability came to the fore in her school years at St Dominic’s Convent in Boksburg, where she obtained full colours in no fewer than five disciplines, netball, swimming, diving, hockey and tennis. She was only in Standard 8 when she first represented Eastern Transvaal Schools at hockey. By her matric year in 1957, she captained the team and also represented South Africa at the Maccabi Games as a tennis player, where she won a bronze medal in the mixed doubles. At the next Maccabi Games in 1961, she won two gold medals (women’s doubles and mixed doubles) and a silver medal in the women’s singles. In 1985, she won a gold medal in the women’s doubles and a silver medal for ladies singles at the Maccabi Games in the over-35 category.

Between 1959 and 1962, she played on the overseas professional tennis circuit. In 1961 she reached the quarter finals of the women’s doubles at Wimbledon and followed this up a year later by winning the Wimbledon Plate (a consolation event) in the ladies singles. In 1962, she also won the Dutch International ladies doubles in Hilversum Holland. She won the provincial women’s doubles titles at Transvaal Championships in Johannesburg twice, in 1962 and 1963, and in 1963 she was runner-up in the women’s doubles in the South African National Championships.

Getting older did not stop her winning ways in tennis. For five years running she has won the women’s doubles, with her daughter Lael Bethlehem, at the Parkview Tennis club and last year she won the mixed doubles tournament there as well.She was appointed coach of the first ever Black South African Women’s Tennis team in 1974.

MARLENE BETHLEHEM | JEWISH WOMEN’S BENEVOLENT SOCIETY

SAJR.CO.ZA | 35

WOMAN LEADERSHIPEUROPCAR JEWISH WOMAN IN LEADERSHIP AWARD

Sisters Haley Rogoff, from Cape Town, and Gabi Medalie, who lives in Johannesburg, provide high-quality continuous professional development opportunities to paediatric and other health professionals and educators through their business, Professional Minds.

Both health professional themselves – they are qualified occupational therapists - they founded the company in 2010, operating in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth.

Rogoff says that what distinguishes the business is that “we go the extra mile to ensure that our delegates feel valued, respected and empowered and that they have access to relevant and expert information and presenters.”

Medalie adds that it is “the sustained personal touch, high quality and attention to detail, despite the company’s rapid and intense growth.”

From two occupational therapists operating from their dining room tables, they have grown Professional Minds into a solid business.

They see their greatest achievements slightly differently. According to Rogoff, it is “to have made an impact on developing, empowering and validating our South African paediatric professionals,” while Medalie views it as “being trusted by, involved with, partnered with and associated with, large, successful companies such as: Adcock Ingram, Novartis, Arctic Health, PPS, Seltzer Water, Sally Williams, Lindt Chocolates.”

Their business philosophies, unsurprisingly, are similar. Rogoff says: “Go the extra mile, always practise with integrity, make a difference,” while according to Medalie, “be prepared to put in the hours, but if you love what you do, you won’t ‘work’ a day!” Everything can be summed up in one word – integrity. It governs our every move.”

The sisters attended Herzlia School. After qualifying, both worked in their profession until establishing Professional Minds. They are both married and each has two children.

Both are involved in community work – Haley serving in the Glendale Home for the Intellectually Disabled and on her shul committee while Gabi is taking a break from her role as a Hatzollah dispatcher after the birth of her second child.

Rogoff and Medalie say they both struggle to find a balance among all their activities, but both family and work are integral to their lives.

GABI MEDALIE & HALEY ROGOFF | PHYSIO THERAPY

Beryl Lutrin regards herself as “an accidental businesswoman” - a teacher turned author, publisher, marketer and distributor.

In 1999 she wrote the Afrikaans Handbook & Study Guide. She said she sadly had to give up her long teaching career as she became so busy marketing and selling the book. She then founded her business.

In 2002 she co-wrote the English Handbook & Study Guide with Marcelle Pincus, followed by her publishing the Maths Handbook & Study Guides for Grades 10, 11 and 12, by Kevin Smith. She proofread and edited those books.

In 2015 she is publishing four more books in the Handbook & Study Guide series – maths, Zulu, accounting and the digital workbook to accompany the English Handbook & Study Guide (which is still in use).

Berlut Books, her publishing company, has won the Publisher’s Association Sefika Awards for the Best Small Educational Publisher and Best Independent Publisher three times - in 2009, 2013 and 2014.

She says the large publishing companies are “amazed that I have sold so many copies without the infrastructure of a large workforce and marketing arm, that I operate from one room in Johannesburg and that my books are in all the schools of South Africa.

“From my first print of 10 000 books in 1999, I have now sold approximately 2 700 000 books – in a country where sales of 7 000 books are regarded as best sellers.”

The business now employs seven people.

“My life is truly a juggling act with lots of balls in the air at once. I am blessed with an exceptional family. My husband, Milton, and I were both widowed young and we have seven sons between us and 12 grandchildren.”

She was born in Middelburg in the Cape, matriculated in Queenstown, then obtained a BA degree and a diploma in higher education in Johannesburg.

In summary she says: “I was an average student and later an average teacher, and yet I find myself in a totally different situation today. I feel I am a role model for women who blossom later in life and women who aspire to better themselves. It is never too late!”

BERYL LUTRIN | BERLUT BOOKS

36 | AWARDS

Theatre is Daphne Kuhn’s calling, job and passion – actor, director, marketer, lecturer, pubic relations practitioner, producer and more. The more includes an entrepreneurial and innovative flair in establishing and owning two theatres, both called On the Square and running them since 1994.

She was born in Cape Town, but grew up in Pretoria, where she obtained a BA (Drama) (Hons) and an MA from the University of Pretoria. She followed this with a public relations diploma from Birnam College.

As an actor, she had several leading roles in university and professional stage, TV and film productions. She also lectured in the University of Pretoria’s drama department.

In 1975 she was an SABC assistant producer, on productions like The Villagers, Jordan and The Dingleys.

From there, she moved into children’s theatre, first as a theatre workshop teacher and then doing PR for Joyce Levinson’s Children’s Theatre, until assisting with the establishment of the Johannesburg Youth Theatre in 1985.

In 1992 she became PR and Marketing Manager at The Johannesburg Civic Theatre and then held a similar post at the Market Theatre from 1993. A year later, she established the Theatre on the Square in Rosebank, which she ran for two years, putting on 20 productions.

In 1997 she established her second Theatre on the Square, and

Sandton’s first theatre, at the Nelson Mandela Square.

Over 1 200 productions and concerts have taken to the boards in this theatre including local and international plays, musicals, comedies, classical and jazz concerts, and children’s theatre.

This small, 200-seat venue has added a vibrant dimension to cultural life in Sandton. It is also a popular venue for corporate events, launches, fundraisers and a youth theatre programme in the performing arts.

She is a recipient of the Naledi Executive Director’s Award for her contribution to South African Theatre and the theatre itself received the 2014 Business and Arts South Africa award.

The theatre has seven staff members and many part-time employees including actors, directors, playwrights, musicians, graphic, lighting, costume and set designers, drama teachers and musicians.

Describing the uniqueness of her business, she says, “it provides the pleasure of a secure and up-market theatre space in a convenient shopping location, presenting quality theatre at night and lunch-hour concerts during the day for the elderly - the only regular weekly event of its kind in South Africa - as well as school productions.

“But most of all, it is a theatre that has survived and sustained itself without government subsidy – and in difficult times.”

She adds: “Show business! There is no business like it!”

She has served on the board of Theatre Management SA and contributes to the JNF, the Arts and Culture Trust and regular theatre fundraisers for institutions, like the SA Guide Dogs for the Blind and 67 Blankets for Mandela Day.

She is married to Phillip Kuhn and has two children, Rodney Kuhn and Gabi Kuhn – and lists babysitting her grandchildren among her hobbies.

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Absa Jewish Achiever Awards 2015 half page advert August 2015 (B)

04 August 2015 12:43:47 PM

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DAPHNE KUHN | THEATRE ON THE SQUARE

WOMAN LEADERSHIPEUROPCAR JEWISH WOMAN IN LEADERSHIP AWARD

WINNERPAULA SLIER | NEWSHOUND

International war correspondent Paula Slier runs Newshound Media International, a one-stop global media production company providing television, print, radio and online services to leading international broadcasters and private clients, serving as the Middle East office for the largest Asian and Russian world networks broadcasting in English.

She founded the company in 2008, but started her career in the Middle East a few years earlier with that camera and R10 000 she borrowed from a friend.

“We provide newsworthy content from different continents and conflict areas such as Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Palestinian territories, Gaza, Israel, Ukraine and others, in several languages from Hebrew and Arabic to Spanish and French.

Newshound has provided satellite services to Israel’s Channel 9, Al Jazeera, Russia Today and BBC and is Middle East office for Channel News Asia, the largest English speaking broadcaster in the Asian world.

She is also a reporter for Radio 702 Eyewitness News and a freelance writer for several South African magazines and newspapers and the Jerusalem Post.

“I believe our work makes a difference – telling stories touches peoples’ lives and gives a voice to the voiceless. It also shapes those who work behind the lens.”

She adds: “People often tell me I’m brave, but I’m not. It’s the people who live in conflict zones, who don’t have the option to leave like I do after a few weeks, who are brave. I am merely in the privileged position to tell their story.”

While not a main activity of the business, training and development in Newshound’s area of expertise has developed into a global internship programme with the vision for a training academy.

She cut her teeth in broadcasting during the first years of post-apartheid South Africa and has gone on to report from some of the world’s most volatile regions.

Her multiple awards include twice being a finalist for Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government Award and recognition by the Kremlin for her reporting in Ukraine.

After matriculating from Waverley Girls’ High, she obtained a BA (Hons) in journalism in 1995.

38 | AWARDS

A hallmark of the South African Jewish community has always been its tireless efforts for social justice. Motivated by the Jewish concepts of tzedakah (charity) and tikkun olam (repairing the world), South African Jewry has a long history of putting these principles into action.

There are a plethora of Jewish organisations and individuals who have made great contributions to social justice in this country and continue to work tirelessly in the fields of education; skills development; and job creation. With activities spanning the spectrum from early childhood development to programmes for senior citizens, organisations such as the Union of Jewish Women; ORT Jet; Ikamva Labantu; and the Mensch Network, amongst others, are creating social change for the systemic and sustainable upliftment of South Africa and all her people.

The Jewish community is also known for its rapid and hands-on support when the country is faced with a crisis. During the 2010 public sector strikes that crippled much of the country, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies immediately mobilized the community and coordinated volunteers to assist in schools and hospitals, with its own staff teaching learners in makeshift classrooms and mopping hospital wards.

In the wake of the brutal wave of hatred and violence against foreign nationals in both 2008 and sadly again in March this year, we immediately went into action. Motivated by our own history of

persecution and migration, the community, under the auspices of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD), sent out a call for funds and donations of essential items desperately needed by the victims.

The response was overwhelmingly positive. Working closely with humanitarian relief organisations at the camps and places of safety, we were able to respond to the specific and changing needs of foreign nationals. The SAJBD also spoke out against the violence, joining with other non-governmental and faith-based groups in issuing press releases and leading solidarity marches to condemn the attacks and raise awareness about xenophobia.

Since 2008 the SAJBD has worked alongside many other organisations in civil society and government to address and effectively combat the root causes of xenophobia, and other forms of hatred. For example, the SAJBD had a founding role in the Hate Crimes Working Group and sits on its steering committee and has also partnered with groups such as Peace Action and the South African National Civics Organisation (SANCO), in trying to find long term solutions for the victims and to work with communities where the violence began.

As a proudly Jewish, proudly South African country, we are constantly searching for ways to contribute to the strengthening of our democracy and work towards the building of a brighter future for everyone in our beloved rainbow nation.

THE JEWISH CONTRIBUTION TO HUMANITARIAN WORK IN SOUTH AFRICA AND FIGHTING XENOPHOBIA

BY ALANA BARANOV

圀䔀 唀匀䔀 䤀一匀䤀䜀䠀吀匀 ⬀ 匀吀刀䄀吀䔀䜀夀 吀伀 䌀刀䄀䘀吀 䴀䔀䄀一䤀一䜀䘀唀䰀 䔀堀倀䔀刀䤀䔀一䌀䔀匀

眀眀眀⸀椀渀琀攀爀愀挀琀爀搀琀⸀挀漀洀 䤀 ⬀㈀㜀 㤀㤀㐀 㤀㤀㘀　 䤀 椀渀昀漀䀀椀渀琀攀爀愀挀琀爀搀琀⸀挀漀洀

Pre-democracy South African Jews played an important role in the administration of and participation in the success of our national sporting teams, particularly in the big three: rugby, soccer and cricket.

RUGBY

The legendary Dr Danie Craven often remarked that a Jew in the Springbok rugby team was a good omen for success. Okey Geffin became a national hero in South Africa when he scored five goals to secure a test win against the All Blacks in 1949. Cecil Moss, too, played for the victorious Springboks against the All Blacks in 1949, playing all four tests, one of them as vice-captain. In the mid-50s, Wilf Rosenberg, a crash tackler of renown, was feared by the All Blacks and British Lions.

I grew up in Cyrildene and one of my best mates was Syd Nomis. He surprised all of us with his meteoric rise in becoming a Springbok (25 tests) because at school his main sport was athletics. Joel Stransky, with 22 caps, will always remain a legend in South African sport because of his drop goal (three points) that secured South Africa its first World Cup final win against the All Blacks in 1995. Jonathan Kaplan holds the record for the most international matches as a rugby referee: 68 tests and 13 rugby World Cup matches.

CRICKET

Cricket saw Jewish administrators hold very senior positions in the administration of the game. Selwyn Myers and Arnold Bloch both served as presidents of Western Province cricket and served with distinction on the national body. Joe Pamensky had a distinguished career as a very able administrator serving Transvaal and South African cricket with distinction for more than 50 years.

Norman Gordon, who recently died at the age of 103, will always be remembered for taking 20 wickets against England in South Africa during the 1938/39 Series. His scalps included the legendary Sir Len Hutton and Captain Wally Hammond.

Mandy Yachad was a member of the South African cricket team that toured India on their historic tour in 1991. A double Springbok, he also represented South Africa in hockey.

Dennis Gamsy was part of the triumphant Springbok team that

whitewashed the Aussies 4-0 in South Africa in 1970.

And with our return to international cricket in 1991, and with much pride, my nephew Adam Bacher, represented South Africa in 19 tests and 13 one day internationals in the 90s.

SOCCER

On the soccer front, post-World War II saw Morrie Jacobson (17 caps) and Hymie Kloner (4 caps) play for the Springboks and probably the most significant Jewish appointment was that of Dean Furman as captain of Bafana Bafana in 2014.

Another milestone for South African Jewry was the appointment of Raymond Hack as CEO of the South African Football Association prior to the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup in South Africa.

Other stalwarts in South African sport were:• Jody Sheckter, born in East London, and in 1979 won the Formula

One World Drivers’ Championship. • Peter Lindenberg is a powerboat racing legend, having won the

South African title on 15 occasions. • Louis Babrow, Fred Smollan, Morris Zimmerman – all played for

the Springbok rugby team in the 30s; as did Joe Kaminer in the 50s and Alan Menter in the 60s.

• Sylvia Dyne (bowls), Abe Segal (tennis), Neville Berman (hockey), Jackie Mekler (5 times Comrades Marathon winner).

So that is the good news. Now the not so good news. With the advent of the 21st century, we have hardly seen a Jewish sportsman or woman represent their country.

Why? Is it because so many Jews have emigrated or that universities like Wits and UCT no longer see sporting prowess and sporting potential as a guarantee for admission to those universities?

My view is that it was the death of Balfour Park, a sports club that produced many outstanding sportsmen and women, that precipitated the sad decline of Jewish participation in South African sports teams, both at provincial and national level.

Ali Bacher is a former South African test cricketer and an administrator of the United Cricket Board of South Africa.

SOUTH AFRICAN JEWISH SPORTS HEROES

BY DR ALI BACHER

40 | AWARDS

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in 2005 and ultimately led the company’s corporate development activities and equity investment businesses across the continent.

In his current role, he aims to build a business that will eventually lead to Barclays Africa becoming a top partner of choice in the African and South African commercial property space.

“The property sector is fundamental to development and transformation of South Africa and the continent as a whole,” he said when asked about his passion for theproperty industry. “Through working with our clients we can be a major contributor in making Africa a better place to live and to work.”

ABSA ENTREPRENEUR AWARD

ABSA ENTREPRENEUR AWARD

Conventional and staid are not terms to describe David Benjamin (42). This is clear from how he describes himself in his company profile:

“DAVE BENJAMIN “ CEO

“Dave is a mad scientist in the science (and art) of customer

experience. He’s fast thinking, quick-witted and insatiably curious. He loves gadgets, and is obsessed with all things Apple. If Dave isn’t busy balancing the management of Interact RDT with his more philanthropic endeavours, you’ll find him whizzing through Joburg on his Ducati.”

He describes the main activity of his company, Interact RDT (which stands for research, design, technology) as a customer experience (CX) agency.

“We are focused on equipping organisations to make the move from product centric to customer centric, by helping them implement tailored experiences that are both memorable and personal to customers. Doing so enables our client to be more competitive and more profitable.”

He adds: “The business of today isn’t just about selling products and services, it’s about creating meaningful experiences that build long-term relationships between brand and customer.”

He provides tongue-in-cheek company statistics - 702 successful projects, 125 happy clients, 11 years of operation, 0 hours of sleep and 962 413 cups of coffee.

Not surprisingly, he goes on to say, “We are a team of mavericks, oddballs and rebels.”

The company employs 30 full-time staff and thousands of part-time researchers.

On a more serious note, he says, “We craft solutions that build and sustain customer experience by combining actionable insights with relevant strategies and creative design, providing the ingredients that allow you to make informed business decisions. They provide measurability that allows you to keep your finger on the pulse of your customers’ needs.

“Improving Customer Experience isn’t a light switch. It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes careful planning, monitoring and responsiveness.”

Designing a successful customer experience requires a combination of creativity and science – a craft and an art.

His business philosophy is “do good, have fun, make money”.

He has a BSc (Hons) in industrial engineering from Wits.

He is married and describes his recreational activities as health and fitness, motorcycling, kids, kids, kids.

DAVID BENJAMIN | INTERACT RDT

ENTREPRENEUR

Charly’s Bakery, with Jacqui Biess and her daughters Alexandra Biess and Daniella Green at the helm (a third daughter, Roch Schollij left recently) specialises – in their own words – in “Mucking Afazing designer cakes for all occasions, as well as a range of fun and bright cupcakes, petit fours, cookies and other yummies.”

Charly’s Bakery has been around since 1989, when it was founded by Charly and Jacqui Biess. Charly remained in the business until his death in 2012.

Employing 42 people, the business is situated in central Cape Town.

“We have a coffee shop open five days a week, which is a landmark destination for local and international tourists. Our business is as much about delivering the most delicious cakes as it is about pushing the boundaries of design and creativity,” says Jacqui.

Jacqui feels the business has “a unique balance and the capacity to produce a large number of products while still maintaining the feeling of individualised service.”

“Our philosophy is innovate, don’t imitate, and the more you give,

the more you’ll get.”

It began with Charly at 16, in a Swakopmund bakery under the stern guidance of a German master baker, eventually learning the classic cakes like Black Forest and Sacher Torte.

After their marriage, Charly and Jacqui moved to Cape Town, starting in Thibault Square, then on to the V&A Waterfront, where they were famous for “those quiches” and “those cakes”, and “that salad buffet”. Now at the other end of the CBD, they have “this classic bakery”.

From 2011, their TV show, Charly’s Cake Angels, appeared weekly on SABC 2. It has also screened in the East, in England and many other countries.

They have a long list of charities they support – 20 at last count. Every year, on the birthday of the business, they donate a cake to a local charity.

They have made cakes for celebrities, including Oprah Winfrey and Elton John.

JACQUELINE BIESS, ALEXANDRA BIESS, DANIELLA GREEN AND ROCHI SCHOLLIJ | CHARLY’S BAKERY

42 | AWARDS

ABSA ENTREPRENEUR AWARD

ABSA ENTREPRENEUR AWARD

In 2010, many aspects of Linda Galvad’s varied work experience, training and passion for food came together in the founding of Sought

After Seedlings, specialising in importing and growing organic foods and training people in how to grow and sustain them.

Galvad started her working life in the motor trade, where she spent several years. Even then, her entrepreneurial spirit revealed itself when she established and ran a gear box and engine business for a couple of years in Cape Town in the mid-1990s.

In 2000, she moved to New York where she worked as a shop assistant, learning more about the need for good client relations.After her return to South Africa in 2001, she worked as an estate agent for three different companies.

Her education included four years of study towards a bachelor of social science degree, majoring in psychology and criminology.

She also obtained a certificate in the Goldman Sachs-Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) 10 000 Women Programme for Women Entrepreneurs, a form of entrepreneurial MBA.

Finally, in 2010, she established Sought After Seedlings, bringing all her expertise and experience to bear.

She points out that food security is one of the world’s biggest environmental issues. Access to nutritious, hygienic and healthy food is increasingly challenging. According to her, the solution to food security lies in our own backyards.

Domestic organic farms are important for food sustainability. She says that they are important for good nutrition which prevents disease. “I’m a strong believer in people eating healthily for their physical, mental and spiritual well-being,” she says. “We are what we eat. If we grow vegetables in an organic way, without chemicals, the plants develop a strong immunity which we then ingest and in turn build our own immunity. “

After thorough investigation, Linda uses seeds from the oldest family run seed company in the world, Franchi, in Italy, which has been in the family for seven generations, since 1783.

Sought After Seedlings imports vegetable seeds and is involved in development and education for sustainability, as well as creating organic vegetable gardens. The business also provides training courses on organic vegetable growing. She feels her greatest achievements are raising the bar in the vegetable seed industry in this country. “We were the first company to bring exotic and unusual vegetable seeds into the country, thus forcing the established suppliers to up their game. The establishment of the organic vegetable rooftop garden for the five-star Saxon Hotel in Sandhurst, Sandton, gave us a springboard for other food gardens.”

Galvad is involved with a number of organisations, including Bio Dynamic Farmers Association, and the Department of Agriculture Law. She is also a member of the Earthworm Interest Group of Southern Africa (EIGSA), a volunteer organisation that promotes knowledge and research on earthworms both in South Africa and world-wide, a significant aspect of her current business.

LINDA GALVAD | SOUGHT AFTER SEEDLINGS

ENTREPRENEUR

Shaun Woolf’s business is, as the name of his company indicates, All About Food - private and corporate catering, as well as event management.

Woolf has been cooking from an early age. He believes that “when selling food, one is selling oneself”.

Food is an integral part of just about any occasion, he says.

The business, which he established in 2007, grew out of those early years and his efforts to provide executive catering for private and corporate events.

He numbers several large corporates and prominent NGOs among his clients, including executives at Vodacom, Top Billing, SAP, Sasol, Keith Kirsten, as well as the CEO of Goldman Sacks in New York.

Woolf believes that what sets All About Food apart from other caterers “is that we can create customised menus for each client.

Customer service is the most important aspect of our business.”

He caters for a wide variety of occasions, including team building events, cook-outs, picnic tins and hampers and cooking classes – at the clients home or office.

There is also the All About Food coffee shop and main kitchen based in a beautiful, modern building, situated in Wynberg, Sandton. The menu offers a variety of foods and flavours, plus their famous cappuccinos. It has 10 tables and two lounge areas for relaxation. The premises are also available as a function or party space, depending on the client’s requirements. The venue can hold up to 180 people, cocktail-style.

The business employs 13 people, serving the Johannesburg and Pretoria areas.

Woolf regards his greatest business achievement as being able to employ people and also to cater for some top business executives, including international visitors.

He holds a business management certificate and a masters qualification in neuro-linguistic programming (NLP).

Woolf, who is married, says he finds balancing his life difficult. “I find that going to a business/life coach helps me work on maintaining a good overall balance. I am very driven, which makes it difficult to switch off sometimes.”

SHAUN WOOLF | ALL ABOUT FOOD

ENTREPRENEUR

SAJR.CO.ZA | 43

ABSA ENTREPRENEUR AWARD

ABSA ENTREPRENEUR AWARD

ENTREPRENEUR

Raymond Leibman, CEO of Just Cruising, a business that sells and markets cruise vacations, set out to become South Africa’s first and only retail cruise broker in 1996, after many years in the property business.

He said his business is unique in “selling happiness to others and also getting to do what I like best and calling it work”.

He established the business “from scratch, with nothing but self-belief”.

Just Cruising employs only five people at its Norwood, Johannesburg, office, but has a multi-million rand turnover.

“Cruising is addictive,” he says, “and based on the ‘one tells two and two tell four principle’, my customer base started to grow and I now have between 3 000 and 4 000 names to call on.”

The company sends around 2 000 people a year on their cruise holiday of a lifetime.

“I have recently completed my 70th cruise - ocean and rivers - and have touched foot on all seven continents. My passion for travel is not fully exhausted, but I do feel that my experience and experiences entitle me to claim at last that I am indeed a cruise expert.”

Customer loyalty is the essence of his business, but not a given.Servicing existing customers is as difficult as the acquisition of new ones.

The industry has become highly competitive and fraught with pitfalls. “We have fought major battles with suspect Internet operators, not so ethical suppliers, skilled marketers, frustrated travel operators and a whole host of new boys on the block.

“Significantly, due to the very personal nature of our business, we do retain a substantial loyalty from our customers. Actually the word ‘customers’ is a misnomer. ‘Friends’ would be more accurate, as we do endeavour and succeed in creating lasting friendships between us and our customers.”

Leibman is married and has four children and seven grandchildren spread around the globe. He attended the Kameeldrift Laerskool – where he was the only English-speaking pupil and probably the only Jewish pupil ever - and Pretoria Boys’ High, followed by a law degree at Pretoria University. He later practised as an attorney for two years, before going into the property industry.

RAYMOND LEIBMAN | JUST CRUISING

Shana Rosenthal runs a design and retail academy, which sounds mundane, except that she not only came up with the idea and founded what is today a substantial business, but also obtained the first full academic accreditation granted to such a private organisation.

She established LISOF (London International School of Fashion) in 1994, considered the most progressive fashion design school and retail education institution in Africa, with campuses in Johannesburg and Pretoria.

It has grown from an intake of 25 students at the start to 700 students this year, across the two campuses, employing 60 people and offering four recognised qualifications in fashion – including an honours degree. Next year it will offer a BCom degree in fashion, in addition to an online campus.

Rosenthal began her career at 22 in Natal, starting a clothing sample division for a corporate wear manufacturer looking to expand into contemporary menswear.

She then found a teaching job at a clothing company offering dull courses. She created a new programme, but the company declined it, saying it had been done that way for years and would carry on that way. With innovation always at the centre of her work, she replied simply: “Not with me.”

But she was not alone. Students started coming to her house for extra lessons. She was then approached to join Boston City Campus, which was the start of the London International School of Fashion.

Two years later she bought the business out from Boston, with the proviso that the name be changed – hence the acronym, LISOF. 

“Our currency was passion and determination, and my main aim was to generate as much publicity as possible. We entered every competition and won them all,” she says.

“Our alumni populate fashion and retail environments throughout the world and our degrees in fashion are sought after in the industry.”

She regards her husband, Shaun, as her role model and mentor, but is equally inspired by the work of her late father, Dr Melville Edelstein, whose courage, strength and determination drive her – he was among the first casualties of the 1976 riots in Soweto, where he worked.

SHANA ROSENTHAL | LISOF

44 | AWARDS

ABSA ENTREPRENEUR AWARD

SHANA ROSENTHAL | LISOF

ENTREPRENEUR

International war correspondent Paula Slier runs Newshound Media International, a one-stop global media production company providing television, print, radio and online services to leading international broadcasters and private clients, serving as the Middle East office for the largest Asian and Russian world networks broadcasting in English.

She founded the company in 2008, but started her career in the Middle East a few years earlier with that camera and R10 000 she borrowed from a friend.

“We provide newsworthy content from different continents and conflict areas such as Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Palestinian territories, Gaza, Israel, Ukraine and others, in several languages from Hebrew and Arabic to Spanish and French.

Newshound has provided satellite services to Israel’s Channel 9, Al Jazeera, Russia Today and BBC and is Middle East office for Channel News Asia, the largest English speaking broadcaster in the Asian world.

She is also a reporter for Radio 702 Eyewitness News and a freelance writer for several South African magazines and newspapers and the Jerusalem Post.

“I believe our work makes a difference – telling stories touches peoples’ lives and gives a voice to the voiceless. It also shapes those who work behind the lens.”

She adds: “People often tell me I’m brave, but I’m not. It’s the people who live in conflict zones, who don’t have the option to leave like I do after a few weeks, who are brave. I am merely in the privileged position to tell their story.”

While not a main activity of the business, training and development in Newshound’s area of expertise has developed into a global internship programme with the vision for a training academy.

She cut her teeth in broadcasting during the first years of post-apartheid South Africa and has gone on to report from some of the world’s most volatile regions.

Her multiple awards include twice being a finalist for Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government Award and recognition by the Kremlin for her reporting in Ukraine.

After matriculating from Waverley Girls’ High, she obtained a BA (Hons) in journalism in 1995.

PAULA SLIER | NEWSHOUND

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ABSA ENTREPRENEUR AWARD

ABSA ENTREPRENEUR AWARD

Rhona Solomon qualified as a nurse in 1978 and had a string of jobs in and outside of her profession until four years ago when, at the age of 53, she established not one, but two successful businesses.

Complete Nursing Agency is a recruitment and placement company that specialises in finding work for nurses and care-givers who have the skills, experience and training to contribute positively to the lives of those they assist, with frail care, post-hospitalisation, palliative care, neo-natal care or any form of medical or home care.

The team ranges from care workers to highly qualified nursing sisters, guaranteeing the best and most advanced nursing care to each and every person.

“Nursing and nurturing is our passion, and we make it our business to care for the people we serve physically, mentally and emotionally,” she says.

Weiners Training Development Academy trains nurses and care-givers to a high level, and allows Complete Nursing to assist with work placement for top students.

A wound care section will be launched soon.

The quality of care is an important issue for Solomon, as her elderly mother required a care-giver.

Fitting the right care-giver to the right patient is the premise upon which the company is built. Solomon believes in a personal touch being the core of the success of her business. She remains in direct contact with each client.

She adds: “My business has been a life changer. I started this business with an idea and no capital and very little real businesses experience, but the need to learn and the willingness to learn have made the business successful.”

She followed her nursing qualification with a public relations diploma and a diploma in personnel management and training. She then had a variety of jobs until finally starting her businesses in 2012. Revenue has increased eight-fold since the first year and the company is expecting up to 50 per cent revenue growth next year.

Solomon is married, with two children, one of whom is in the business.

RHONA ANNE SOLOMON | COMPLETE NURSING

ENTREPRENEUR

David Jacobson and Yossi Hasson, both 32, founded SYNAQ – a cloud email service provider specialising in helping businesses manage, secure and archive email, without having to do it themselves – in 2004.

Today SYNAQ is the leading provider of cloud based messaging and communication services, processing in excess of a billion mails a month.

In 2010 SYNAQ was ranked by AllWorldNetwork as the sixth fastest growing company in South Africa. In 2012 it was rated by Forbes as one of the top 20 Tech start-ups in Africa. The business was acquired recently by Dimension Data.

Hasson, the SYNAQ CEO, has over 14 years of experience starting, building and scaling technology-based businesses. In 2013, the Mail and Guardian nominated him as one of the Top 200 Young South Africans. The following year he was one of 500 young people

selected (from 50 000 applicants) to represent South Africa on the US Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders initiative.

He is the President of Entrepreneurs Organisation South Africa, a member of Endeavor Global and lectures part time to MBA students on advanced entrepreneurship.

He holds an MBA (2009) from the Gordon Institute of Business Science, graduating cum laude.

Jacobson, the SYNAQ technical director, started playing with computers at the age of seven. A formidable hacker in his early days, he broke into some of the biggest corporations in the world - for fun.

After matriculating he went to the UK and was involved in deploying and building one of the worlds most sophisticated IPTV platforms for 5-star hotels. He was the only team member without a PhD.

Jacobson returned to South Africa to assist in building a leading ISP’s core infrastructure, before co-founding SYNAQ.

He is a Red Hat Certified Engineer and a member of Endeavor, with some of the most influential entrepreneurs in the world.

They regard their greatest achievement as surpassing 1-million mailboxes managed on behalf of their more than 5 000 customers, making SYNAQ possibly the largest email service provider in Africa. They are proud of this achievement in competition with large international providers like Microsoft and Google.

DAVID JACOBSON AND YOSSI HASSON | SYNAQ

46 | AWARDS

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ABSA ENTREPRENEUR AWARDENTREPRENEUR

From a humble start in 1991 when Premier Hotels and Resorts managing director Samuel Nassimov purchased a dilapidated hotel in East London, the business has developed into one of South Africa’s fastest growing, independently owned hotel groups in the country.

Its properties now include 12 hotels in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, the East London International Convention Centre and the Mpongo private game reserve near East London.

Premier Hotels and Resorts offers 1530 bedrooms. It has 870 full-time staff members, with a further 200 in temporary and casual employment and 230 contract workers.

Samuel (Vyadislav) Nassimov was born in the former USSR in 1956, He attended hotel management school in the Soviet Union until 1973, when he went to Israel, furthering his studies at the Tadmor Hotel management school until 1975.

He worked for three years at the Hyatt Hotel in Tel Aviv and then became managing director of a freight forwarding company in Tel

Aviv from 1980 to 1987, before coming to South Africa.

He was managing director of a travel agency, Carlson Wagonlit, from 1987 to 2006.

Since 1991, Premier Hotels & Resorts has built a reputation for offering luxury hotels and conference venues carefully situated in the mainstream of regional business and travel destinations in South Africa.

His awards include the Daily Dispatch/IDC Entrepreneurial Award of Excellence 2008,

Rotary Club Paul Harris Fellow Award 2009, SAPOA Buffalo City Developers Award 2010, and Business Destinations London - Best Convention Centre Award in Africa 2011.

He says his greatest business achievement was in 2009 when he developed three major projects simultaneously, Premier Hotel East London International Conference Centre, the East London International Convention Centre and the Premier Hotel OR Tambo.

Married with three children, he speaks Russian, Hebrew, English and conversational Farsi (Persian).

Among his many organisational affiliations, he lists the East London Hebrew Congregation (he is the president), membership of the Hebrew Order of David and of Rotary, a member of the Border Kei Chamber of Business and a member of the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry.

SAMUEL NASSIMOV | PREMIER HOTELS & RESORTS

ABSA ENTREPRENEUR AWARD

In just three years – the company was founded in 2012 – Warren Schewitz and Ariella Kuper have built Clear Asset into the market leader for online mining equipment sales in South Africa.

The online mining auction house’s blue chip clients include some 80% of South Africa’s major mining companies. The list reads like a who’s who of the mining industry, including Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, Anglo Coal and Anglo Platinum, Exxaro, Glencore, Harmony and Implats.

The business also operates in the construction sector in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as in the maritime and agricultural sectors, which it regards as natural extensions. It has exported over half its sales globally to 15 countries on all five continents. The sheer size and scope of the goods auctioned is almost hard to believe. In 2014, the company sold the largest piece of second-hand mining equipment in 25 years in SA for R173 million – it is as large as an eight-storey building. It also sold two ships to India last year and another two to Taiwan this year. Revenue has more than trebled in the second year, with 65% growth last year and a similar increase anticipated this year.

Ariella Kuper obtained a BA degree at Wits, followed by an MBA from the UCT Graduate School of Business and an exchange scholarship to the Columbia Business School in the USA. She began her working career in 1996 at Macsteel, where she remained until 2005, rising to become senior steel trader and regional manager for South America. She then worked for O2 Capital, a private equity and turnaround company, as director of sales, marketing and operations. This was

followed by four years at two auction houses until February 2012.

Ariella has a string of nominations as a female businesswoman, including a nomination as the 2015 Standard Bank’s top female entrepreneur Award and Businesswoman award. She is the only female member of the SA Institute of Auctioneers board. She is active in a whole string of charitable and voluntary organisations, both Jewish and general.

Warren Schewitz obtained a BCom and an honours degree in finance from the University of Natal. He received a scholarship from SA Centre for Science and Development for academic achievement and was selected as research assistant to an associate professor of Public Policy at Harvard University in the USA.

He began his career in finance at the Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank, followed by two years at RBC Dominion Securities in Toronto, Canada, as an investment banking analyst, as well as dealing with mergers and acquisitions. In 1999, he then moved to Open Lane, the largest North American online marketplace, facilitating the trading of used vehicles among automotive dealers. He was part of the founding management team. The business grew tenfold in three years to transport over 200 000 vehicles a year. The company was then acquired by a listed American corporation.From 2009 he started and was managing partner of a hedge fund, before his return to South Africa to co-found Clear Asset.

Future growth will include expansion into agriculture and aviation, as well as work elsewhere in Africa.

ARIELLA KUPER AND WARREN SCHEWITZ | CLEAR ASSET

ENTREPRENEUR

Warren Moss (34) has been the CEO of Demographica since he founded the business in May 2010. From entrepreneurial beginnings, it has become South Africa’s leading data-driven direct marketing advertising agency.

It began by pioneering e-mail and SMS advertising and is now a specialist advertising

agency that focuses on the business to business (B2B) world.

“We have undoubtedly carved out a remarkable niche in the industry,” Moss says. “With a solid and authentic company ethos, we have aligned ourselves with like-minded brands, only taking on clients that are serious about appointing a direct marketing advertising agency that takes responsibility for delivering measurable return on investment (ROI).”

In fact, he says, “the ROI calculations of campaigns for our clients return 30 times the industry average.”

He adds: “Our process, The Demographica Way, is informed by science, social science and art; and we are the only agency in the country (which probably means in Africa) that uses a genuine

combination of big data sciences, anthropology, psychology and creativity to solve business problems.”

Demographica is an independent, privately held company, employing 45 people.

Moss and Demographica, have been recognised by winning some major business awards, including multiple Direct Marketing Association’s Assegai Awards, multiple Bookmarks Awards and multiple awards from the African Access Business Awards.

He was also given the Young Entrepreneur of the Year award at the Assegai Awards in 2012. Covering direct marketing topics, he has been featured in numerous magazines, websites, newspapers, TV shows, and regularly appeared on radio. These include Marketingweb.com, AdVantage magazine, Business Day, Talk Radio 702/Cape Talk 567 and Business IT Africa. He is a judge for the Assegai Awards as well as the IAB South Africa’s Bookmark Awards.

He is currently the Chairman of the Direct Marketing Association of South Africa and previously sat on the board of the Johannesburg chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organisation as the Marketing and Communications Chair.

He divides his time between running his company, consulting, teaching, and speaking at events all over South Africa.

Moss is married. He matriculated from King David School Linksfield and has a BCom from UNISA.

WARREN MOSS | DEMOGRAPHICA SA

48 | AWARDS

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WINNERS

PAUL BERMAN | BERMAN BROTHERS

In an industry plagued by delays and the resulting cost overruns, Paul Berman, CEO of Berman Bros, built his residential and commercial property company on a simple, bold and powerful value proposition – building on time as usual.

This resulted in acquiring a reputation on the simple premise of over-delivering on big promises, an ethos that has dominated the business since its founding in 1994.

The company has broadened its focus in recent years, with a significant residential and commercial portfolio, teaming up with strategic partners and embarking on significantly sized residential and commercial developments, as well as mixed use projects.

While historically, residential and commercial construction were one of the company’s core competencies, “we now only build for ourselves and engage in large developments,” he says.

“Berman Bros is a cutting-edge development company. We have created and strongly maintain a hard-earned reputation for reliability, financial prudence, ethics and creativity,” he adds.

His personal business philosophy is to be honest, have faith and reward hard work. “That way it will come back to you in both personal and professional success. Reward both behaviour and performance.”

Developments by Berman Bros have won multiple awards for innovation and in one case, have completely reversed the fortunes of upper Sea Point in Cape Town, which was experiencing capital flight and urban decay.

The company has earned several awards, including Best Residential Developer – Africa 2015 in the 2015 Global Real Estate Awards, and was a finalist in the 2015 SAPOA awards. Berman himself has been nominated for several awards as well.

Berman Bros employs over 150 people.

Paul matriculated at Herzlia School and then qualified as an attorney, practising for a number of years with a leading firm before joining his brother Saul in the business.

His communal involvement is legion - heading Jewish Community Services, Cape, since 1998; chairing the Jewish Board of Guardians; being a governor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; chairing the Sea Point City Improvement District and being the Africa chair of the Young Presidents Organisation, amongst others.

He is married with three children.

50 | AWARDS

WINNERSABSA ENTREPRENEUR AWARD

ENTREPRENEUR

DANNY AARON AND TOM GOLDGAMER | BENATAR PRODUCTIONS GROUP

In 2007, Danny Aaron and Tom Goldgamer left the corporate world at Hollard to start 3 Way Marketing, a digital marketing company. They took Hollard with them as their first client.

Eight years later, under the banner of Benater Productions Group, they have 14 successful businesses, all running independently, with the aim of being digital leaders in their respective industries, such as telecommunications, financial services, recruitment, consumer apps and commercial property.

Aaron (33) obtained a BCom (Hons) before joining Hollard. Goldgamer (40) worked for Hollard for five years after studying for several qualifications – an honours degree in industrial psychology, a post-graduate diploma in business administration, an Insurance Institute qualification and an MBA.

Benater is the holding company, employing over 250 people and operating in 10 countries. Turnover has increased five-fold since 2012.

The flagship company of the group, 3 Way Marketing, is one of the largest lead generation firms in South Africa. It uses databases in 40 countries around the world. It refers 100 000 potential new customers to clients monthly. It also has access to key decision makers in companies.

Other group companies:• BMI - consumer data for direct marketing and automatic voice

messaging; • Joyspring Trading - one of South Africa’s largest aggregation

services and subscription businesses; • Phonefinder - providing an array of cellular services;• Dionysus Cellular - South Africa’s first online provider of

cellphone contracts across leading networks;• All My Stuff - independent insurance comparison solution;• Fix My Life - online portal allowing people to find reliable home

service providers;• Gold & Mill – recruitment, focusing on call centres, finance, office

support, retail and digital marketing;• Gluon – a new app to create an instant social network and

broadcast it to anyone; • Hudlr’s database - over 22 million financially active South

Africans; • Place Recruitment - consulting to leading insurers on recruitment

strategies;• Lead Leader - e-mail marketing and database business;• Smart Insurance (launch October 2015) - the first dent and

scratch insurance policies in Israel;• 312 on Kent - a commercial property in Randburg and breeding

ground for nascent IT and data businesses.

SAJR.CO.ZA | 51

“Contributionalism”, a term coined to describe a particular type of historical writing focusing on what specific groups have contributed to society, is now somewhat discredited. Its detractors argue, rightly, that in a multi-cultural democracy, no community should have to engage in any kind of ‘special pleading’ on its own behalf, as if its very existence somehow needs to be justified. Nor, they say, should people be deterred from producing more realistic ‘warts and all’ community histories for fear of giving their particular group a ‘bad name’. For understandable reasons, Jews have been especially prone to contributionalism when documenting their own history.

While it should not be a dominant element in historical writing, there is room for occasionally focusing solely on the successes of one’s particular group. It helps to generate a sense of pride and self-respect amongst its members, can be useful in counteracting negative stereotypes and provides inspiring role models for members of the group to emulate.

This thumbnail overview of the role Jews have played in building South Africa should be seen in this light. Of course, not every Jewish community member was a captain of industry, fighter for justice, eminent member of a profession or path-blazing creative artist. Most, as we know, were ordinary, hard-working people. That being said, it is also the case that the totality of Jewish achievement over the past two centuries in South Africa has been well out of proportion to the community’s always small numbers. In the main, the focus has

tended to be on the pivotal role that Jews have played in pioneering and developing the country’s economy, but in fact, similar levels of success have been achieved in virtually every field one cares to mention. Within the white population, Jews produced by far the highest proportion of campaigners against political and social injustice during the apartheid era. In the arts field – be it in theatre, literature, music, fine arts or other – Jewish names similarly abound. The same is true in the professions, academia, within broader social welfare initiatives on behalf of all disadvantaged South Africans and in civil society in general.

Where South African Jewry can perhaps take particular pride is in how its members have combined providing for the specific needs of Jews as a distinct religious and ethnic group with a strong public service ethos. This is illustrated, inter alia, by how often one comes across individuals who held important leadership positions in both Jewish communal affairs and broader public bodies, such as city councils, educational committees or the boards of charitable foundations. In the post-apartheid era, there is nevertheless a danger that Jews may be starting to focus inwards on their own community’s needs at the expense of the broader one. Perhaps the key challenge of South African Jews today is to continue to safe-guard their own institutions while identifying with and contributing to the greater society within which they have been allowed to flourish.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF JEWS TO SOUTH AFRICA BY DAVID SAKS

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The word build implies positive actions such as boost or strengthen, increase or improve, invigorate or augment - the list goes on. In its simplest form with relation to construction – it means the actual physical building of structures and a landscape, ultimately forming what becomes the skyline of a country. Furthermore, the infrastructure and landscape of a country is a physical manifestation of what is happening within the country, both economically and socially.

Jews seem to have an affinity to the property business. From architecture and development, to construction and management, the history of the contribution of South Africa Jewry to the physical building of the country is long and substantial. Current statistics indicate that the Jewish population in South Africa accounts for a mere 0.1 per cent of the total South African population. This is a tiny number if you consider the actual impact, seen quite visibly on the South African skyline.

The majority of South African Jewry are descendants of Eastern European Jews, predominantly from Lithuania, Poland and Latvia, that came to South Africa to escape pogroms and persecution in the 1800s in search of a better life. They came with very little or no money. They could not speak the language and persevered against all odds to try and make a living in a foreign country. They were also among the early arrivals at the Witwatersrand goldfields. Several of the first Randlords were Jewish - Alfred Beit, Lionel Phillips, Barney Barnato, Solly Joel, George and Leopold Albu, Max Michaelis, and Sammy Marks.

Ivor Sander in his book entitled ‘Heritage of the Rainbow Nation’ (2013), commissioned by Absa Group detailing the history of the Absa

Campus in the Johannesburg CBD and its surrounds, describes the early history of the Jewish community in South Africa. He states that relatively soon after enough Jews had arrived to create what could be called a ‘community’, they set up a Jewish soup kitchen, a Jewish ambulance corps, and in 1896 a Jewish Hospital was built which was later incorporated into the Johannesburg General Hospital. Soon after, two stands were bought by the Witwatersrand Goldfields Jewish Association, founded in 1887, for the first synagogue in the Transvaal. It was first named the President Street Synagogue and was later renamed the Witwatersrand Hebrew Congregation after completion in 1889. In 1893, the Park Synagogue (corner De Villiers and Joubert Streets), was dedicated to the Johannesburg Hebrew Congregation by President Paul Kruger. The Great Synagogue opened in 1914. The Poswohl Synagogue (in Mooi Street, off Pritchard), has now even been declared a national monument.

Other areas that Jews moved to include: the Cape, where the first synagogue was built in 1849; Pilgrim’s Rest, where a Jewish cemetery was established in 1878; and Barberton where a synagogue was built in 1889.

Jews, predominantly from England or Germany, that were more educated and well-to-do, tended to live in the townships of Doornfontein and later Berea and Yeoville. Eastern European Jews that were of a lower socio-economic status, tended to live “in the impoverished slums of the in the southern part of the city”, being Ferreirastown and Frenchfontein. ‘Jews who made good in Johannesburg invested in businesses and properties there’, often leasing properties to others in the diverse community that developed there. And the rest as they say ‘is history’.

BUILDING A NATION

BY DINA DIAMOND

54 | STORY

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Property developers included brothers Samuel and James Harris Goldreich, who helped develop Hillbrow, Regent’s Park and Wanderers View. Max Langermann has left his legacy in Kensington, with the naming of Langermann Kop.

Liberty Holdings, founded by Donald Gordon, recently launched an advertising campaign in which they state they took a “horse-farm on the outskirts of Johannesburg’, and turned it into “the richest square mile in Africa”, to create what is now called Sandton City.

The Sandton Central Business District abounds with magnificent modern glass and marble structures engineered, commissioned and built by many past and current nominees and winners of the Jewish Achiever Awards. Captains of industry such as Adrian Gore (Discovery), Stephen Koseff (Investec) have all made their mark. Architects like Paragon, are responsible for some of the newest iconic additions to the South African skyline. These would include office buildings such as Creative Counsel, Norton Rose Fulbright and Alexander Forbes. However the building continues and companies such as Alchemy are contributing to the creation of the landscape with the new Sasol building currently under construction.

Properties moguls that stand out also include Mark Weiner (Redefine), Jeff Zidel (Resilient), Rodney Weinstein (Zenprop), Gerald Leissner (Indluplace/ Arrowhead Properties, ApexHi, Anglo American).

Before Sandton emerged as the new home of commerce, the Johannesburg City Centre occupied centre stage as the hub of all business and social activities. Ponte City, the tallest residential skyscraper in Africa, was built in Hillbrow in 1975 and was an extremely desirable address. The principal designer of Ponte was Mannie Feldman, working in a team together with Manfred Hermer and Rodney Grosskopf.

However with the flight of businesses northwards in the late 70s, the city centre began to lose its lustre and fell into decay. Many property owners and developers fought gallantly to try and regenerate various parts of the inner city and have made great strides. People like Gerald Olitsky managed to create a complete turnaround for Ghandi Square, which is today a clean, safe a hub of activity. Jonathan Liebmann (Propertuity) has created Maboneng, “a fully-fledged thriving community” in the CBD. City Property (Wapnik family) has contributed to inner city regeneration both in Johannesburg and Pretoria. Through Octodec and Premium, the Wapnicks have also

invested in shopping centres such as Killarney Mall and Woodmead Value Mart, as well as its residential assets and retail offerings in the inner cities.

Sol Kerzner a true visionary, created Sun International – the most successful hotel group in South Africa, and built some of the best known getaways in South Africa, Sun City, the Beverly Hills Hotel in Umhlanga, the Elangeni in Durban, just to mention a few.

Arthur Gillis has contributed and continues to drive and grow Protea Hotels, the largest hotel group in Africa. Solly and Abe Krok founded Gold Reef City in 1989, which continues to thrive.

The list of South African Jewry and their contribution to the building of the South African skyline is endless. The limited people mentioned above are just a few of those that have invested their time, resources and energy into building for the future and allowing all that is housed in physical structures to be able to flourish, and to continue to build this country with heart and soul!

THE CREATIVE COUNSEL BUILDING

SUN CITY

NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT BUILDING

Cape Town born Steve Felder has risen rapidly up the corporate ladder in every organisation for which he has worked, becoming a company director for the first time when he was only 24 and moving up from there to his current post at the age of 39 as Maersk Line managing director for East Africa.

Maersk Line, a subsidiary of the world’s largest shipping firm, AP Moller-Maersk, which also owns the Safmarine brand, is the world’s largest container shipping company, providing ocean transportation in all parts of the world. It serves its customers in 116 countries, employing 7,100 seafarers and 25,500 land-based employees. It operates 610 container vessels.

Felder is responsible for the company’s operations in six countries - Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan – and he is also charged with a number of pan-African projects.

Before moving to Nairobi, Kenya, where he is currently based, he was the managing director of Maersk Line in Israel for four years. He regards Maersk as a company in a very exciting industry. “Shipping is a key enabler of global trade. It is a global industry and a very substantial one in volume terms – it moves billions of dollars of cargo around the world every day…It’s also a very traditional industry in many respects,” he says. He points out that more than 90% of trade in the world moves by sea in containers.

Felder joined Maersk in 2004, serving for two years as regional manager for South Africa and Botswana. He was then promoted to sales director for sub-Saharan Africa, a post he held until becoming the company MD in Israel in 2008.

He began his working career in South Africa with Sweets From Heaven in 1995. He was appointed retail director in 1999, after a year’s break as a business consultant in Canada. He then spent a year as national franchise director at Jetline Print Franchises, moving to African Bank for three years as national head of special projects, before joining Maersk.

His business philosophy is:• If you choose a corporate career, aim to work for the best

company in the industry, and try to work in various functions and/or markets during your career, in order to expand your horizons. If you opt to start your own business, make sure to think broadly, in international terms, and not limit your ambitions to a particular market.

Rather than listing one achievement as his greatest, he prefers to list a collective set, including: • Successfully leading the growth and development of companies

in multiple industries, across a host of global markets.• Growing market share for Maersk Line in East Africa, off an

already high base.• Spearheading the inception of several new products, which have

been highly successful.• Improving cost and productivity in multiple businesses..• Spearheading several large pan-Africa projects.

His educational qualifications include anMBA at UNISA and the Accelerated Management Programme at INSEAD in France.

Other organisations in which he is involved include Young Presidents Organisation (Exco member), Kenya Ships Agents Association (director), Eastern Africa Association (board member) and the Nairobi Hebrew Congregation (Exco member).

Steve is married to Devorah and they have three children.

ABSA UNLISTED COMPANY AWARD

Allan Hirsch grew up believing he was stupid, yet he founded and runs a business that now has a turnover of more than a billion rand a year, with a national footprint.

He had a difficult school career – in fact he even says he failed grade 2 – and was eventually sent to a technical college in Pietermaritzburg

to learn a trade. He became an electrician and later went into refrigeration, working for a number of employers.

His epiphany came in his early twenties, when he was newly married to Margaret. A neighbour suggested that he consult an educational psychologist who told him he was not stupid at all, but was dyslexic.

“I went out of the room shrieking with excitement, realising for the first time in my life that I was not stupid. I had lacked any sort of confidence.” His life changed. In 1979 he started his own business, with his wife, four employees and no capital.

“My idea was to keep our customers happy and when a machine wasn’t worth repairing, offer them a brand new one at the same price as the discount chains. The word started getting around about my service,” he says. Hirsch’s became a one-stop shop for customers who wanted to purchase top brands at affordable prices.

Allan and Margaret have nurtured the company themselves, remaining involved in all aspects of the day-to-day running of the business, working on the shop floor and interacting with customers. They have opened an average of two new stores a year over the last 20 years, supplying top brands and creating hundreds of new jobs.

In 2001, Hirsch’s decided to launch its Homestore concept, providing a service to their customers where they could find anything they needed for their home. The concept took off.

Hirsch’s Homestore is now South Africa’s biggest independent appliance company, with branches throughout the country and more than 1 000 employees. Hirsch’s also stocks furniture, electronics and bedding. While supplying new appliances has become a major part of the business, Hirsch’s still services any appliance for customers, as well as providing spares. It stocks Hi-Tech products, gaming products, PC’s, laptops and cameras, which now constitute an enormous part of the Hirsch product line.

In the tough trading times of the 2008 stock-market collapse, Hirsch’s set a goal to increase turnover from R600 000 to over a billion rand in five years, and achieved it. He regards this, along with “the privilege of enjoying and creating jobs for South Africans”, as his greatest business achievement.

Allan Hirsch says he has a simple business philosophy: “I want happy customers and to get happy customers we have got to give superb service.” Staff is trained with this in mind. He adds, “I don’t know if I am blessed or challenged with a family business because, as a family, work is very important to us and when we are together, often without realising it, we talk about the business.”

Allan and Margaret have two children, Richard and Luci, who are both in the business with them.They contribute money, time and effort to various charities and sponsorships. Allan is a patron of the Phoenix Child Welfare society and Richard is a patron of the Claire-Ellis School.

UNLISTEDALLAN HIRSCH | HIRSCH’S

STEVE FELDER | MAERSK SUBSIDIARY EAST AFRICA

56 | AWARDS

ABSA UNLISTED COMPANY AWARDUNLISTED

Ronen Aires is the founder and CEO of Student Village, a specialist youth and graduate marketing agency and career development specialists, a business he founded 11 years ago.

“We assist large corporates to either promote their products/services to university students or attract top talent to

their businesses,” he says.

“We currently provide skills training and work experience to over 1 000 part-time students. We also work with top employers who are responsible for hiring approximately 2 000 graduates per annum.

“We also produce a huge amount of career related material that assists the majority of graduating students to make the most informed choice in career once they graduate.

“In addition, we offer bursaries and internships to students wanting work experience in our field.”

The business employs 30 people full time and approximately 600 part time, operating in four countries - South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana.

Asked to indicate his greatest achievement, he lists not one, but seven:• Buying out a key competitor to become the only full-service

youth marketing and media provider;• Entering the graduate marketing space;• Making Blackberry the most popular handset on campus for

four years in South Africa and Nigeria;• Purchasing new premises at a really good price;• Introducing social media to South Africa before Facebook

opened its services globally;• Selling a portion of the business to Imperial Holdings Ltd;• The positive effect on the lives of thousands of students.

In describing his personal business philosophy, he says, “I have approached life and business in the same way. I don’t believe we ever reach a destination called ‘success’ – I prefer to aim for a ‘life of significance’. From my experience, the best way to achieve a ‘life of significance’ is to lead a ‘life of service’.”

His enthusiasm for entrepreneurship is evident in the various organisations he chairs and supports, as well as his commitment to ensuring that young people in Africa are given the tools to make their own way as successful members of society, through what he does at Student Village.

He is not afraid of following at times, as he recognises the value of learning from others. He believes in the importance of fostering creativity, strategic thought and consistent delivery.

Out of the office, Aires is a father, an activist and a “trail junkie”. Other activities include photography and travelling.

He is involved in several outside organisations, including the Entrepreneurs Organisation, where he is a board member and leader of its accelerator programme, as well as Africa director of its global Student Entrepreneur awards. He is an active member of the Chevrah Kadisha and was a board member of the CSO. He is a local trustee of the G20 Youth Entrepreneur Alliance.

RONEN AIRES | STUDENT VILLAGE

Eugene Beck (37) is the founder and CEO of Road Cover Holdings, a company that allows victims of motor vehicle accidents to have immediate access to an effective Road Accident Fund (RAF) claims management system, at no costs to themselves, rather than going through attorneys who require payment of a substantial portion of

any compensation awarded.

Beck says he does business with people rather than companies. Terming himself a social capitalist, he has founded many successful companies in South Africa.

The initial success of Road Cover lies in the fact that Beck never gave up and had the tenacity and foresight to continue to knock on doors and introduce Road Cover into the market, when every door was slammed in his face and no-one believed in his product.

The concept of the company was born out of Beck suffering a personal accident and laboriously having to work through the claim process, eventually achieving a minimal payout from the Road Accident Fund. He felt there was a need to provide fair and honest costs savings and dealings to all South African road users and their families, including motorists, commuters, cyclists, runners and pedestrians.

Road Cover provides members of the public with the opportunity of a full claim and settlement should they be injured in a road-related accident. They pay a monthly premium, as opposed to having to pay their legal representative a share of the payment made.

The value that Road Cover has added to the South African community has resulted in settling claims and payouts over the past 10 years totalling hundreds of millions of rand, directly impacting on many families’ and individuals’ wellbeing and basic rights.

Not only has Road Cover facilitated payouts and claims, but has saved its members millions of rand in attempting to run a claim using conventional methods available.

Suffering any type of road accident is a traumatic experience and Road Cover offers support and comfort to victims by handling the claim process, while the individual or family can work on the physical and emotional healing required.

Beck was also the founder and CEO of the Real Juice Company, which changed the juice market. It had a 57% market share by the time it was sold to AVI in 2001.

He was also co-founder and director of FoodSure, a company championing the honest brand movement in South Africa. FoodSure validates food marking - that what appears on a food label is really inside of a product. FoodSure aims to restore trust between the consumer and producers, which has is tainted from time to time by food scandals.

Beck is also owner of Holman Properties.

Beck and his companies are involved in charitable endeavours including Mal & Pals which serves as a central depot for collecting and distributing foodstuffs and second-hand clothing, furniture, appliances, linen, books and bric-a-brac for the underprivileged.

Beck won the Sanlam Money Game in 2002, using his business skills and creative lateral thinking.

ABSA UNLISTED COMPANY AWARD

David Shapiro, managing director of Lesco Manufacturing, started the business in 1999, manufacturing electrical products such as switches, adapters, plugs and sockets.

He went into the industry in 1974, starting at the bottom of the ladder in his late father’s business, Switch Electrical Industries, progressing

through the ranks to factory manager and designing products.

That business no longer exists and Shapiro feels his greatest disappointment was having to restart a business – when he started Lesco – because of political and labour issues.

Lesco has been a significant success story. His watchwords are ethics and principles - the only way to do anything is the right way, with no short cuts or compromising of quality.

The company employs 30 people directly and 200 indirectly, operating in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, the Free State, Namibia and Zambia.

He is hands on in the business. “Since the inception of Lesco, I have spent a great deal of time with the redesigning of South African adapters for appliances and cell phones using hollow pin technology. I also introduced switches and sockets of a one-piece construction with integrated cover and cradle and, more recently, the new exciting Pipelli range of switches and sockets.

“Lesco is an innovative local company, designing and manufacturing ground-breaking new products for the local housing and consumer markets,” he says.

“Our drive towards low cost product development and distribution to the retail stores will substantially increase our reach and will contribute to the growth of our business.

He adds a word of caution: “With the opening up of world markets after apartheid was dismantled, there has been a huge influx of sub-standard products from China. This can be a very dangerous scenario. Both parents and children need to be protected from the dangers of the inferior and often non-compliant products.”

Lesco is a member of SAFEhouse, an association of organisations in the South African electrical industry, formed to combat unsafe products and services.

He says Lesco has a set of seven values it uses to manage staff - customer driven, teamwork, honesty, Lesco first, innovation, quality and pride, and positive attitude. The business uses a formalised strategic plan for management. The process is done with an outsourced consultant to help manage the team

Lesco outsources work to two homes for the handicapped, Logwood Village (Muldersdrift) and The Hamlet (Regents Park). A third manufacturing facility is linked to the Deo Gloria church, where work is given to homeless, financially deprived people. Lesco provides machinery and equipment to enable the church to produce quality products.

Lesco gained the Presidents Award in 2007 for outstanding achievement in developing and uplifting the quality of life of people with intellectual disabilities.

David (65) says he likes to stay healthy by going to gym and enjoys taking his family away on holidays.

David’s son Jonathan (24) has joined his father in the business.

UNLISTEDDAVID & JONATHAN SHAPIRO | LESCO MANUFACTURING

EUGENE BECK | ROADCOVER

58 | AWARDS

ABSA UNLISTED COMPANY AWARDUNLISTED

Gilad Abelman describes himself as a serial entrepreneur who values the opportunity to develop ideas that help solve problems. His business career bears this out, as well as his statement that he is a lateral thinker with an ability to understand and evaluate opportunities.

He lists his general experience in five areas – the first two job related - financial accounting and taxation – and the last three directly related to his entrepreneurship - marketing strategies, innovation and building successful businesses

Born in 1978, Abelman attended Carmel School in Durban, matriculating in 1996. He obtained a BCom Marketing and Accounts from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2003.

He began his career in 2001 with Tetlin Investments, where he was a founder and partner. There he developed and successfully operated South Africa’s first online voucher redemption programme, called Coupon City. He left in 2002 to further his studies.

That year he worked for six months at the Fabric and Textile Warehouse as a financial manager.

After obtaining his degree, he worked as a partner and new business developer for three years at Teleshop, a joint venture with iX Webhouse, where he was responsible for innovations and its strategic direction.

Differences of opinion led to his leaving the company to join Sum Digital as a director, where he was responsible for developing a

cloud solution for document storage in the insurance industry, known as Insurevault. His active involvement in the company ended in 2013 because of the demands on his time of his latest venture, VAS Holdings (formerly Classic Loyalty).

In 2007 he became a director of Discounted Lifestyle, one of the leading providers of loyalty-based benefit programmes in Southern Africa, where he was in charge of generating new business and the strategic direction of the company, a similar role to the one he now plays at VAS, which he joined in August 2011.

The main activity of VAS is the supply of loyalty programmes and related value added services to corporate South Africa, for the use of call centres and the companies themselves. Products can be customised to meet the requirements of corporate clients

At their peak they had approximately 100 call centres that sold their products.

“We are the largest supplier of loyalty programmes to vertical markets in South Africa sold through a call centre”.

He regards the development of VAS Holdings as his greatest achievement, with huge growth in a short period.

“The business started modestly in my apartment three years ago. In the first 12 months I engaged over 100 call centres to distribute our products. This represented a sales team in excess of 3 000 individuals across these call centres selling our licensed products. I achieved this without an office, working from home and meeting clients at the advertising agency, which we partnered to develop the products for these call centres.”

GILAD ABELMAN | VAS HOLDINGS

ABSA UNLISTED COMPANY AWARDUNLISTED

Since his appointment as general manager at Jacaranda FM, the bilingual radio station, Kevin Fine (42) has relaunched the brand, led the station to over 20 awards, including Station of the Year 2015, and delivered consistent revenue and audience growth.

He holds a BA (Hons) Industrial Psychology from Wits University where he had a radio show on Voice of Wits. After graduating, he was instrumental in establishing Smart FM and later became a voice of youth culture and action sports with his show on 5fm’s “Impact Zone”.

He followed this with his national breakfast show “Kevin’s Rise ‘n Fine”.

His two-year “Bury me in Books” campaign added over a million books to libraries for the needy, and resulted in his being awarded the Paul Harris Fellowship, Rotary International’s highest honour.

After a short time with Primedia, where he hosted the morning breakfast show, Fine hosted “The Scoop” a nationally syndicated World Cup update show for the duration of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Kevin established the Little Champs Sports Academy in 1996. Some 40 000 pre-school children have gone through its sports programme in six provinces. He became managing director of Little Champs in 2004 and designed their licensing programme, created and aired a 26-episode Little Champs television show and delivered a road show to 200 000 children in disadvantaged communities. He raised substantial funding from organisations such as UNICEF, HCI and ABI.

In 2008, Electronic Arts contracted him as marketing consultant for the Fifa franchise, placing him on the FIFA Commercial Affiliates Alliance for three years.

Fine activated the biggest African Fifa interactive World Cup, grew sales in the franchise by 30% per annum over three years and, with Telkom, installed commercial displays at five of the 2010 World Cup stadiums.

In 2009 Fifa seconded Fine to the festival organising team as programme manager for the Football for Hope Festival held in Alexandra township, an official legacy event of the World Cup.Fine created a stadium entertainment programme for seven days, managed nine events and 34 staff. He was also responsible for a touring programme for 450 delegates, producing three one-hour festival TV specials and securing five hours of airtime on SABC.

Later, he was appointed CEO of 101.9 Chai FM, tasked with turning the station around by developing programming, audience and revenues. During his time there, Fine delivered the highest ever audience figures for the station.

After nine months at Chai FM, Fine was headhunted by Jacaranda FM to head up the radio station at its Midrand headquarters.

Over the past two years, Jacaranda FM has been nominated for 35 Awards at the annual MTN Radio Awards, more than any other Commercial Radio Station in the country.

His personal business philosophy is taken from a Kenny Rogers song: “know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold em.”

He has been an active member of the Young Presidents Organisation since 2012.

KEVIN FINE | JACARANDA FM

Sally Williams has become a household name, synonymous with top quality nougat and other lines.

Managing director Mark Sack says it has become iconic not only through traditional media, but through pop songs (Jak de Priester) celebrating the existence of the brand and becoming embedded in South

African culture. Sally Williams is also mentioned in the same breath as Mrs Balls Chutney and Marmite by ex-pats the world over, conjuring warm memories of home.

With its head office in Johannesburg, it has regional offices in Cape Town, KwaZulu-Natal, Bloemfontein and London, in the United Kingdom. The company exports to 22 countries.

“Our product and brand are considered best of breed on an international basis,” he says - winning a number of international awards and being recognised by celebrities such as Oprah.

He began his working career in 1991 at Tirrena, an importer of famous brand electronic goods.

In 2000 he joined Sally Williams, an internationally acclaimed nougat manufacturer.

The business has its origins in the souks of Marrakesh, where Sally Williams discovered a bare-bones recipe for nougat. She worked on her finest honey nougat when she returned home.

The business was started 17 years ago in her kitchen. It soon moved to the double garage where her husband Colin was brought in to manufacture the nougat in very small batches, while Sally sold whatever was produced.

Sack, Sally’s then son-in-law, purchased 50 per cent of the business to help facilitate taking it to market. The business soon moved to industrial premises.

Within two years both Sally and Colin retired and sold their shareholding to Sack, allowing for a more rigorous and aggressive approach.

The business is sticking to its core – the manufacturing and administration of the Sally Williams range of products and the maintenance and building of the brand. Non-core activities of warehousing, distribution, sales and merchandising have been outsourced.

Still hand-made in small batches, all final processing (cutting, wrapping and packaging) is highly automated.

Sack adds, “We continue to develop both new product lines as well as new markets beyond the borders of South Africa. One of our biggest achievements is the fact that Sally Williams product offerings can compete favourably with any confectionery manufacturer internationally.”

Sack (45) matriculated from Carmel College in Durban and went on to obtain a B Com degree at Wits.

His outside activities include ORT Jet as a mentor as well as general mentoring.

He says he tries to leave his evenings and weekends for family and friends. Sack, who is married to Lana, lists his recreational activities as gym, reading and travel.

MARK SACK | SALLY WILLIAMS FINE FOODS

60 | AWARDS

Celebrating our local stars

Mazel Tov to the nominees and winners of the Jewish Achiever

Awards of 2015KPMG unlocks the opportunity of doing business, to ultimately inspire confidence and empower change in today’s dynamic and ever-expandingmarkets.

Contact us:Michael RudnickiT: 083 377 6492E: michael.rudnicki@kpmg.co.za

Robyn BergerT: 083 273 7390E: robyn.berger@kpmg.co.za

kpmg.co.za

ABSA UNLISTED COMPANY AWARDUNLISTED

44 | AWARDS

WINNER

BERNARD STERN | METAL CONCENTRATORS SA

Bernard Stern and his wife Hilary opened Metal Concentrators (Metcon) in 1990. It began as a computer scrap recycling company, but today it is South Africa’s largest independent gold refiner.

It also manufactures jewellery and minted precious metal investment products.

“We are leaders in our market segment and manage a corporate size business like a family,” Stern says.

His business soon started to grab the interest of jewellery companies. “This is how we got involved in the gold refining business,” he says. “We eventually moved from Johannesburg to Pelindaba. Being South Africa’s main nuclear centre, this was a much safer location. We were after all dealing with precious and very valuable metals.”

Over the past 25 years, Metcon has opened refineries in Cape Town and Mauritius as well.

“Metal Concentrators was the first company in South Africa to develop and produce nickel-free alloys that met Europe’s nickel standards. Many people are allergic to nickel,” Stern says.

Until 2008, South Africans were not allowed to buy gold except as a coin, medallion or jewellery. In 2009 the company was the first refiner since 1911 to obtain a licence to manufacture minted investment gold bars.

Another recent achievement, in 2014, was the award by the

Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) of dual certification against the new Code of Practices and the Chain-of-Custody Standard. The RJC is tasked with improving integrity and responsibility levels in the international jewellery supply chain.

“This means that the gold we refine is free of conflict and is mined with respect both for people, human rights, and the environment.”

In addition, Metcon was the first South African refiner to recognise the potential of platinum as a jewellery metal locally, which resulted in a series of pioneering platinum training and jewellery workshops that introduced platinum to the general South African jewellery manufacturing industry.

“We have been blessed with amazing staff, the majority of whom have been with the company for 10 years or more,” he says. The company employs 55 people.

He feels it is important to balance work, life and community. “By being a family business with a philosophy that family comes first, we ensure that the company closes at 3pm on a Friday and we never work over weekends.”

He matriculated from Athlone Boys’ High and holds a diploma in physical metallurgy.

His interests are reading, cooking, travelling and socialising with friends and family.

62 | AWARDS

THE CONTRIBUTION OF SOUTH AFRICAN JEWS TO ART

BY NATALIE KNIGHT

The Jewish contribution to art in South Africa has been out of proportion to the size of the population. This applies not only to artists, but also to dealers, gallery owners, critics, writers, patrons and collectors.

Immigrants to South Africa brought their culture with them from the shtetls in Lithuania and Poland. Sculptors include Lippy Lipchitz, Moses Kottler, Ernest Ullmann and Herman Wald, despite the biblical injunction not to make graven images.

The late Rabbi Abt who loved art said that the commandment was not intended to stifle all creativity.

Professor Lippy Lipshitz, whom I interviewed in the early 80’s, said that religion and art were inseparably intertwined.

“Art to the Jew is in essence a form of prayer,” he told me.

Lipschitz began his illustrious career by making beautiful objects for the synagogue and then he devoted his life to creating three dimensional works both figurative and abstract.

The work of the immigrant sculptors and many born in South Africa feature in major public monuments and museums throughout South Africa.

Irma Stern, who was born in South Africa but studied in Germany, stands out as a painter. The people of Africa formed the main subject of her exhuberant oils. She struggled for recognition - in 1922 her work was described as “agonies in oils” by the Jewish editor of the Sunday Times, Langley Levy. Posterity has radically disagreed with his opinion.

Many Jewish artists born in South Africa prefer not to be classified as Jewish artists. They have assimilated their art into a broad spectrum.

The current star hailed internationally is William Kentridge, multi-award winning artist known for his prints, drawings, and animated films.

Joe Wolpe, a pioneer in the field of art dealers stated that, “The dealer is the bridge between the artist and the public”.

Today there are many Jewish dealers and major galleries owned by Jewish gallerists. The preponderance of Jewish women in this field is also significant.

Jewish critics, writers and teachers have been prominent over many years.

In particular, Esme Berman who authored the bible - Art and Artists of South Africa and other major publications; Professor Neville Dubow who was Head of the Arts Faculty at the University of Cape Town. Prof Alan Crump, Head of the Arts Faculty at Wits, told me that both his parents were Jewish but he had been brought up as a Buddhist.

An American, Paula Gershick, investigated the large number of Jewish researchers and collectors of African art. She noted the importance of collectors like Richard and Frieda Feldman. In addition to their support of Irma Stern they also helped German refugees such as Dr. Maria Stein-Lessing and her husband Leopold Spiegel, who brought their interest in African culture with them when they escaped from Germany.

There is a desire for art and culture buried in the Jewish psyche. In addition to the many artists practising today, Jewish collectors and buyers, sponsors and donors have enriched South Africa and have contributed greatly to the culture of the country.

64 | STORY

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Colin Coleman is the head of the South African office of Goldman Sachs, a role he has held since he joined Goldman Sachs in 2000. In 2008 he assumed the role of head of the Investment Banking Division for Sub-Saharan Africa. He was named a partner in 2010.

This year he became member of the Investment Banking Services Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Captains Group. He is also a member of the Growth Markets Franchise Group.

In 2013, Coleman authored “Two Decades of Freedom,” a report by Goldman Sachs on South Africa’s progress since 1994. A data rich, empirical analysis, it has helped contribute towards a balanced narrative of how South Africa changed over the previous 20 years and reveals what South Africa still needs to tackle.

His report was optimistic about South Africa, regarding it as a favourable destination for fund managers because of the relative lack of competition from other emerging markets and the depth of its capital market.

In the report, Coleman said the country had the region’s deepest capital markets measured as the market capitalisation of the Johannesburg Securities Exchange divided by gross domestic product.

What he termed “investor skittishness” sometimes directed towards South Africa was comparable to the skittishness some investors had towards China 20 years ago.

He has addressed a wide variety of audiences, including talks at Ivy League American campuses on political and economic issues.

A former anti-apartheid activist, in the 1980s Coleman was involved in the anti-Apartheid struggle and later in the nation’s transition to a new constitution.

From 1989 until South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, he was an executive

Director for the Consultative Business Movement (CBM), Coleman

served in working groups of the multi-party talks, facilitated the International Mediation Forum and helped to negotiate the agreement to facilitate all parties’ participation in South Africa’s 1994 elections.

In 1994, Coleman became a senior consultant for public affairs at Standard Bank Investment Corporation (SBIC), where he was an advisor to the SBIC chairman. He was subsequently appointed director of public finance for SBIC’s Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank.

In 1997, he relocated to London, where he became a vice president of energy, power and oil for J.P. Morgan’s Investment Banking Advisory Department.

In 1996, he was nominated as one of the World Economic Forum’s Global Leaders for Tomorrow and has received a ‘Personality of the Future’ award from the French government. He was also a recipient on behalf of the CBM of Harvard Business School’s Business Statesman Award in 1994 and was named one of Euromoney’s World Top Ten Financing leaders for the 21st Century.

He is a member of the Endeavor Global Advisory Board as well as its South African board, the READ Development Board, and the Governing Board National Business Initiative

He earned a BA in Architecture from the University of Witwatersrand in 1988.

Goldman Sachs, based in Manhattan, New York, provides a wide range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base, including corporations, financial institutions, governments and high-net-worth individuals. Founded in 1869, the firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in all major financial centres around the world.

It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, with a market capitalisation of about $92-billion (R1.133-trillion).

LISTED

COLIN COLEMAN | GOLDMAN SACHS

ABSA LISTED COMPANY AWARD

66 | AWARDS

Hylton Kallner (40) is the chief marketing officer for the Discovery Group and plays a key role in the executive committees of Discovery Limited, Discovery Health, Discovery Life, Discovery Invest, Discovery Insure, and Discovery Vitality.

He was appointed to the boards of Discovery Health, Discovery Life, Discovery Vitality and Discovery Holdings in April 2010.

Kallner graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand with a BSc in Actuarial Science. In 2000, he was admitted as a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries and a Fellow of the Actuarial Society of South Africa.

In 1996 he started his career at Liberty Life in the actuarial division. In October that year he joined Discovery Health where he has held various positions in marketing, actuarial, and strategic projects.

Discovery is a financial services business covering health insurance, life insurance, investments, short-term insurance and banking.

Founded in 1992, Discovery is a South African-founded financial services organisation. It operates in the health insurance market through Discovery Health, the life assurance market through Discovery Life, the financial services market through Discovery Invest and DiscoveryCard and in the wellness arena through Discovery Vitality. All operating subsidiaries are 100% owned by Discovery.

Its approach to financial products is highly differentiated and involves integrating its entire product range with its science-based wellness programme, Vitality. The integration with Vitality has enabled Discovery to improve its competitive position by offering products with better benefits at a lower price than that of its competitors.

The company, with headquarters in Johannesburg, has expanded its operations globally and currently serves over 4.4 million clients.

Discovery employs approximately 10,000 people. The areas overseen by Kallner employ approximately 4,000 of them.

The business operates internationally in South Africa, the USA, the United Kingdom, China, Australia and Singapore.

Discovery Limited listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange in 1999 and has no other listings on local or international equity or debt exchanges.”

“Our shared value insurance model is globally unique,’ Kallner says.

“Utilising behavioural economics and incentives, we have demonstrated an ability to make people healthier. At a personal level this has a profound impact and at a business level we are able to offer lower cost, more sustainable and profitable insurance products.”

Kallner feels his greatest achievement in business is having “led the launch, development and growth of our ‘youngest’ business, Discovery Insure, which has quickly become a leader in this competitive space.

“The business is built on our philosophy of improving the ‘risk’ of our clients – in this case by driving better – and so we are also making the roads generally safer for South Africa.”

He says all Discovery’s businesses operate in competitive, highly regulated markets but all have real competitive advantages. They are growing strongly and operating at record new business levels as a result. Discovery has an exciting pipeline of new, innovative products which it believes can maintain its position, so Kallner is optimistic.

“There are also some exciting new adjacencies which we hope to make meaningful progress towards opening up.”

He says it is not easy to balance work, life and community.

“My family takes priority and I never miss an important milestone or event – and I don’t work on Shabbos. But I’ve never been a believer that time can be balanced if you want to do something really profound.

“I typically work a minimum of 80 hours per week but I’ve found ways to get some balance by focusing on quality and efficiency of time allocation.”

He says his community involvement is through investing time in the school system where his four children are – by sitting on the SA Board of Jewish Education executive committee.

He lists his family first among his recreational activities, followed by exercise.

HYLTON KALLNER | DISCOVERY

LISTEDABSA LISTED COMPANY AWARD

SAJR.CO.ZA | 67

Jonathan Hertz is the CEO of Peregrine Holdings, a R6-billion company listed on the JSE. He was appointed two years ago, having previously been chief operating officer and main board director from 2000 to 2005.

Hertz (42) is also a non-executive director of Kaydav Group, the largest distributor of wood-based panels in South Africa, and founder and advisor to South Africa Alpha Capital Management, a Cayman Island-based platform allowing investors to make US dollar investments into Southern African alternative investment funds

Peregrine, which was listed in 1998, is a holding company for a range of entrepreneurial businesses. The group focuses exclusively on operating financial services businesses, in South Africa and internationally.

The company has four key segments: wealth management, asset management, broking and structuring, and advisory services. Assets under management amount to R91 billion and the business employs 672 people globally.

It operates throughout South Africa and in London and the Channel Islands, with small operations in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.

Members of management of each businesses share significantly in the success of their own business. The founders, management and staff own 27.9 per cent of the shares. The company prides itself on its low staff turnover at both executive and operations levels.

Hertz regards his greatest achievement in business as doubling Peregrine earnings, trebling the share price and bringing on a new set of international shareholders by successfully competing with global firms.

Hertz says that “for a reasonably large business, we understand the meaning of ownership and entrepreneurship. Our businesses are owner-managed.”

There are 12 companies in the group. The major subsidiaries are:• Citadel Wealth Management, focusing primarily on the asset side

of the client’s balance sheet;• Stenham, a UK and Channel Islands-based asset management

subsidiary;• Java Capital, a corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions

boutique;• Peregrine Securities, a SA-based broking and structuring, and top

10 JSE member by value and volume of transactions; • Peregrine Capital, the group’s flagship hedge fund manager.

In the past two years alone, since Hertz took over as CEO, five of the group companies have won 16 different awards:• Java Capital – no. 1 general corporate finance, investment advisor

and JSE sponsor, and top in mergers and acquisitions (by deal flow), both in 2015;

• Peregrine Capital – five-year performance - single manager, fund of the year, pure hedge fund (all three in 2014) and three-year performance (2013);

• Java Capital – no. 1 in general corporate finance and no. 2 in mergers and acquisitions (2014);

• Peregrine Securities - no. 1 in overall derivative products (2013 and 2014) and overall derivative firm (weighted) and derivatives dealing and derivatives research (both 2013);

• Stenham Advisers – best investor relations team, top 10 performing hedge fund – fixed income and emerging markets as well, and top 10 performing fund of hedge funds (all in 2013).

Hertz obtained a B Sc from Wits in 1993 and in 1999, became a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and a Fellow of the Actuarial Society of South Africa. In 2004 he became a CFA charterholder (CFA Institute).

He has had a stellar corporate career since his first job in 1994 with Fedsure Assurance, where he remained for five years, ending up as general manager.

He then went to Safrican Insurance Company as managing director for a little over a year, before his first five years at Peregrine from 2000.

This was followed by four years at two companies as managing director, Caveo Fund Solutions and Spyglass Capital, before rejoining Peregrine in his present post.

Hertz is married and has two children, but says he does not manage his work, life and community balance well, because of his long work hours.

“My family is very important to me and I am fortunate that both my siblings and two of my wife’s siblings are in Johannesburg and we spend a great deal of time together. I try to focus on a small number of external entities that I believe in and hope to make a difference to,” he says.

JONATHAN HERTZ | PEREGRINE HOLDINGS

LISTEDABSA LISTED COMPANY AWARD

68 | AWARDS

One sentence in the chairman’s review in the 2015 Vukile Property Fund’s annual report sums up the kind of business contribution Laurence Rapp makes wherever he has worked: “Laurence has been the driving force behind Vukile’s transformation and growth since his appointment in 2011.”

The company chairman, Anton Botha, went on to say that “some of the most important milestones for Vukile have been achieved over the past four years. They have fundamentally changed and improved our investment proposition” – since Rapp joined as CEO.

The 44-year-old Rapp regards his performance at Vukile, which manages R14.7 billion in assets, as his greatest achievement in business.

“I am very proud of the turnaround I have effected at Vukile since taking over as CEO in August 2011. I arrived at a company that had an uncertain future having just staved off a takeover bid and immediately was then susceptible to another potentially hostile takeover attempt. The staff were uncertain and nervous about their future. The company was also seen by the market as a takeover target and sat well below the radar screen with little or no public profile.

“I am delighted by how we have transformed the company now into a vibrant and energetic company with a renewed and invigorated management and staff team. We have become an acquirer instead of being a takeover target. The staff has tremendous belief in the vision and strategy of the company and that has led to exceeding all internal targets we have set around growing the business and joining the bigger league of the property sector.”

Vukile owns 97 properties throughout South Africa and in Namibia. Retail assets comprise some 70 per cent of the portfolio. The company employs 32 people. Its property management activities are outsourced.

Vukile is also a long-term, active management investor.

Since listing in 2004 it has delivered a compound annual growth rate for investors of around 24 per cent to May this year.

Rapp is also chairman of Synergy Income Fund Ltd and in 2014 was elected chairman of the REIT Association, the industry body that oversees the R450 billion listed property sector.

Rapp’s impressive achievements have run through his entire career.

He matriculated at Highlands North Boys’ High and the obtained a B Com (Hons) (cum laude), followed by the Wharton EDP.

He began his career with the Monitor Company as a junior management consultant, before joining Fleming Martin as an equity analyst, specialising in the retail sector. He was rated in the Financial Mail Analysts’ Survey as the top analyst across the JSE for innovative research. During this time he also raised over R1 billion in capital for various companies. He was appointed as global head of research for the retail sector for the Robert Fleming Group as well as being appointed a director of Fleming Martin SA.

In 1998, Rapp was approached to join one of his large clients, Gensec, dealing with aspects of their proprietary trading, as well as general deal making.

He was then asked to join Gerald Rubinstein’s Vestacor, which he had been advising. They restructured Vestacor into a private equity fund focused on the retail value chain.

In 2001 he joined Standard Bank as Director: Strategic Investments. There he built the business unit focusing on equity investments into financial companies. Rapp also concluded a number of joint ventures for the bank. The business unit grew from a start-up to generating approximately R200 million in net profit. He served on a number of other Standard Bank boards.

In 2009 he took up a new role as head of the Wealth Division, which made some R1,4 billion before-tax profit in 2010 and accounted for approximately 29 per cent of the retail bank’s profit

In 2011 Rapp was head-hunted for the role of CEO of Vukile.

Within the community, Rapp is a member of the board of governors of the Chevrah Kadisha; a member of the board of governors and executive of Yeshiva College; a committee member of SA Friends of Ben Gurion University and an initiator and co-organiser of the “Start Up Nation” business trips programme under the auspices of the South Africa Israel Forum.

Married to Emma (Wunsh) – they have three children – he has a good balance between work, life and community. His recreational time is devoted to his family, Torah learning and shiurim – and watching cricket when he can.

LAURENCE RAPP | VUKILE PROPERTY FUND

LISTEDABSA LISTED COMPANY AWARD

SAJR.CO.ZA | 69

58 | AWARDS

Stewart Cohen cofounded Mr Price almost 30 years ago. With Laurie Chiappini, he created a significant and very successful retail business that today is a household name.

The two of them set out to create a different way of doing business, where the values and culture not only created a positive and enabling environment to succeed, but where the success of the business was also shared and enjoyed by employees.

At 70, Cohen is no longer in an executive role in the company, but remains as honorary chairman of the board.

The company is a fashion-value retailer of apparel, homeware and sports products.

Cohen says it is unique in that it found a way to sell highly fashionable products at very low prices. This was achieved through high volumes, low costs, sophisticated logistics and advanced technology.

The company now operates in South Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana and Zambia and it will be opening in Australia in October. It employs 17 000 people.

The management team is very decentralised, with each division having its own managing director.

“We promote mainly home grown management into leadership positions, Cohen says.

He regards his greatest achievement as “seeing thousands of our associates (employees) sharing in the success of the business and becoming wealthy beyond their dreams. All our staff get shares in the company and more than a thousand have achieved a net worth of over a million rand.”

Mr Price has an impressive growth record. It grew by 20.6 per cent in 2015, a rate it has maintained for several years. Revenues for 2015 were a record R18.1 billion, up from R15.9 billion last year, and R13.8 billion the previous year.

Cash balances at the end of the last financial year were R2.8 billion. Cash sales remained high at 81.9 per cent of total sales.

His business philosophy is to “work only with people you trust fully. Dream big and for decades ahead. Understand the power of vision and create a clear compelling picture of the future that you share

with all your associates. Build your business to last on a clear set of values that are also shared.”

Indicating how business can help the country with job creation, education and skills development, he says the Mr Price Foundation created the JumpStart project which takes never-employed young matriculants and gives them training and work experience and most end up getting jobs. The programme has also received financial support from the government.

In the field of education, the company developed a physical education programme for black schools that is being rolled out nationally and operates in 300 schools affecting the lives of around 60 000 pupils.

Its RedCap schools programme has assisted rural schools in KwaZulu-Natal with extra teacher training and school management programmes, with government support.

Cohen adds: “Our most recent development, which I am very involved in, has been the introduction of technology into the education system. Working with MIT and Tufts Universities in the US, we are introducing specialised tablet-based games which teach literacy. In addition, we are working with Numeric and Kahn Academy of the US to enhance maths skills in schools.”

Cohen matriculated from Grey College, Bloemfontein. He obtained BA and LLB degrees at Rhodes University before completing an MBA at the University of Cape Town.

He lists his recreational activities as golf, jogging, travel, reading, classical music.

With regard to balancing his work, life and communal activities, he says: “Retail is a very demanding industry. So, for example, I gave up golf, my main sport, for 35 years so as to have time for my family. Time pressures are now not as great and I am having a lot of fun getting involved in a number of significant social and community projects as well as playing golf again. I continue to have a very busy and full life.”

He is married, with three children.

STEWART COHEN | MR PRICE

WINNER

LISTEDABSA LISTED COMPANY AWARD

70 | AWARDS

Absa Bank Ltd Reg No 1986/004794/06 Authorised Financial Services Provider Registered Credit Provider Reg No NCRCP7

Absa opens doors for franchises

Franchising is not a new concept. In fact, the history of franchising can be traced back to 200 BC when the first form of franchising came into existence. Developing through the ages, the franchise concept of today is a flexible business model that encompasses the entire business process and is characterised by a mutually beneficial relationship between a franchisor and a franchisee.

It is truly a proven, superior business model that offers a viable, reputable formula for entrepreneurs looking to start a new business and wishing to avoid some of the pitfalls a new enterprise may face.

An industry with great potential and staying power

In South Africa particularly, franchising is active in about 17 business categories. In fact, over 31 050 franchise companies and 600 different franchise brand names exist, generating R302 billion for the country’s economy last year and contributing substantially to job creation through the employment of more than 300 000 people.

Absa Franchising: +27 (0) 11 350 8000, franchise@absa.co.za or absa.co.za

Of these franchises, retail accounts for 20% and the food industry accounts for 22% (and just short of 40% of total consumer food service sales).

With more than 20 years of experience in this growing industry, the franchising team at Absa has established a credible track record among South Africa’s top franchise companies. We believe in developing long-term partnerships with our franchise customers by ensuring that we have the footprint and products to provide a solution for their expansion across South Africa and into the continent.

Our sound knowledge of the franchise industry, and that of our customers, enable us to offer best-of-breed products and tailored global solutions that can meet the unique business needs of franchisors and franchisees alike. Whether a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) or a corporate, our infrastructure is well tuned to service franchises of all sizes across a breadth of industries, namely grocery retail, restaurants, quick-service restaurants, entertainment and leisure, and automotive and fuel, among others.

Industry information source: Franchise Association of South Africa and Absa Franchising.

Genen GungiahHead: Franchise and EnablementBusiness Banking AfricaTel +27 (11) 350 8141 Email genen.gungiah@absa.co.za

Banie ClaasenHead: Retail Sector and AcquisitionBusiness Banking AfricaTel +27 (0)11 846 2408Email baniec@absa.co.za

JEWISH INVOLVEMENT IN THEANTI-APARTHEID STRUGGLE

BY DAVID SAKS

Some maintain that Adam Tas who led a successful protest movement against the autocratic and corrupt rule of Cape Governor Willem Adrian van der Stel in the late 17th century, was of Jewish origin. If true, this would mean that from virtually the birth of a settled European society, a Jew (albeit a baptised one) was at the head of this country’s first recorded campaign for democratic rights. Fanciful though it might be, one might then see in Adam Tas a harbinger of the many Jews who in the still distant future would play so strikingly prominent a role in combating racism and bringing democracy to South Africa.

Political agitation on behalf of the country’s disenfranchised non-white population began gaining ground in the early 20th century. The first sustained challenge to racial injustice came from the Indian community, headed by a young Mohandas K Gandhi. In this regard, crucial assistance – financial and logistical – was provided by Gandhi’s Jewish friends and associates, most notably Herman Kallenbach and Henry Polak.

Many of the newly-arrived East European Jewish immigrants had been profoundly influenced by communist and socialist ideologies then so prevalent in their former homelands. As a result, there was, from the start, a disproportionate Jewish presence on the left, both politically and in the nascent trade union movement. Such activists tended to believe with almost messianic fervor in Communism as the ultimate cure for humanity’s ills, and devoted their lives to pursuing its goals. Within this ideology was no place for exclusivist ethnic nationalism, least of all when exercised at the expense of other groups. Thus, Communists increasingly devoted

themselves to opposing racial discrimination, and in the process, profoundly influencing the thinking and strategies of the broader liberation movement. Jews dominated their ranks, as demonstrated by, amongst other things, the disproportionate number of them who were amongst those whites banned or imprisoned for political offences.

Not all Jewish anti-apartheid activists were dyed-in-the-wool leftists, of course. Many fell into the category of what could broadly be termed ‘liberal’. Here the Jewish presence, while not quite so obviously disproportionate, was also still impressive, particularly with regard to members of the legal profession – Isie Maisels, Arthur Chaskalson and Sidney Kentridge amongst them – who were involved in defending political prisoners and confronting the apartheid system in the courts. There was also a strong Jewish presence in civil society organisations opposing apartheid, such as the Black Sash and Springbok Legion, amongst student leaders and in Parliament. Jewish MPs after 1948 were almost entirely from opposition parties, with Helen Suzman in particular becoming a famed opponent of the apartheid system.

In closing, it must be remembered that the Jewish role in bringing democracy to South Africa was in the main about what individuals achieved. Collectively the Jewish leadership, while never formally supporting apartheid, signally failed to formally condemn it until late in the day. This was undoubtedly a historic failure on the part of South African Jewry, and the justifiable pride its members today take in those Jews who did take a stand, must always be tempered by that realisation.

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Education brings growthInvestec Promaths and Bursary programmes are celebrating 10 years of believing in more.

Together with the commitment of our partner organisations, we have given more time, more

support and more attention to promising students and learners in order to equip them for the

bright futures they deserve. This initiative has grown enormously over the past decade and has

all the right elements to continue to produce out of the ordinary results in the future.

investec.co.za

Investec Limited and its subsidiaries, including Investec Bank Limited - 1969/004763/06, registered credit providers and authorised financial service providers. Cape Town 021 416 1000 Durban 031 575 4000 Johannesburg 011 286 7000 Pretoria 012 427 8300.

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