Amelia Vukeya-Motsepe, Senior associate, Bowman Gilfillan
Amelia Vukeya-Motsepe’s legal passion is health law. Her time spent at the Constitutional Court and with the Aids Law Project taught her that human rights and health go hand in hand. She believes if a person’s health can be fixed, then everything around them will be able to improve.
She interrupted her articles to be a researcher to Justice Kate O’Regan in the Constitutional Court of South Africa between 2004 and 2005. After completing her LLM at Georgetown she interned at the American Bar Association, their Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities project on HIV and Aids.
She doesn’t see her employment at Bowman Gilfillan as a corporate sell-out, but instead says she’ll be able to make a larger impact and extend her influence. Next month, Vukeya-Motsepe will visit the University of Conneticut — she was selected from 700 applicants — to attend the Unesco’s 5th annual leadership training programme. — Jane Steinacker
Lunch spot: Wangthai, Nelson, Mandela Square, Johannesburg
Anthony Miller, Founder, Lightstone Risk Management
Anthony Miller’s career took an unsuspecting turn about three years ago when the property evaluation component of his website www.lightstone.co.za suddenly took off. The qualified engineer’s website evaluates the value of property using statistical information from the deeds office, banks and the municipality and translates that into valuable information for potential buyers and sellers, offering a realistic value of the property they are looking at.
Now that we all know what bad mortgages and inflated property values can do to the world’s markets, websites such as Miller’s are fast becoming an essential tool of the economy. — Jane Steinacker
Lunch spot: Brass Bell, Kalk Bay, Cape Town
Arie Fabian, Director, Fabiani
Arie Fabian runs Fabiani, the national menswear retailer that suits up some of the country’s best dressed.
Founded in 1978 by his father, Jeffrey Fabian, in St George’s Mall in Cape Town, Fabiani has expanded to seven branches across the country — the latest in Soweto’s Maponya Mall.
Fabiani stores stock the Fabiani label as well as a limited number of international high end designer collections, with former clients that include Robbie Williams and Samuel L Jackson.
Fabian prides himself on attention to detail. He says every item in the Fabiani range can be distinguished by its exceptional quality and innovative design. His clientele would agree. — Qudsiya Karrim
Lunch spot: Wangthai, Nelson, Mandela Square, Johannesburg
Carel Nolte, Human resources and marketing manager, Etana Insurance
It’s not what you would expect from the head of an insurance company. Because getting your corporate inspiration from a party in the middle of the Black Rock Desert in Nevada isn’t, well, very corporate at all.
But it was at Carel Nolte’s first Burning Man festival in the United States three years ago that his philosophy about how to work with people crystallised. The sense of community coupled with the safe environment that facilitates openness and conversation created at the festival, inspired the way in which he now manages his portfolio.
Nolte is astounded that people would think his job boring. For him, no two days are ever the same — he endeavours to support his colleagues and allow them to quite simply be themselves. — Jane Steinacker
Lunch spot: Darkies Café Johannesburg
Anthony Prangley, Manager, Dialogue Circle, Gordon Institute of Business Science
There is a lot of talk going on at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs). At the regular Gibs dialogue circles, everyone from chief executives to high school scholars are actively exploring ways in which can help our country make it through these complex times.
Facilitating all of this heady conversation is 32-year-old Anthony Prangley, whose passion for South Africa inspired the creation of the circles about five years ago. Prangley wants to not only help South Africa in its transition from the past to the present, but from its complex present to a prosperous future.
The Gumboots foundation is another one of Prangley’s visionary initiatives; it creates an opportunity for South Africans living abroad to still play a part in developing our country by contributing to grassroots community projects. — Jane Steinacker
Lunch spot: Joe’s Butcher, Roosevelt Street, Alexandra, Johannesburg
George Glynos, Managing director, ETM
George Glynos is finally getting his honors degree in economics from Unisa. Which is really weird because he should actually be teaching the course. Glynos is managing director of ETM, the real-time financial market analysis group that launched five years ago while he was with Econometrix, the economic industry giant.
Seems that Glynos, who started out working for Ecometrix’s Dr Azar Jammine in 1996 fresh out of university with a BCom in hand, got a bit distracted. He liked his work so much, and was so good at it, that going back to school never made the agenda. He got even busier when he decided to launch ETM; it quickly came to dominate the market, supplying all the top banks and financial institutions with their constant information feed. It’s only recently that Glynos has been able to take some time to get his papers in order. And soon he’ll have the same qualifications as all the analysts who work under him. — Tanya Pampalone
Lunch spot: Espresso Café, Parkhurst, Johannesburg
James Wanjohi, Managing director Branson School of Entrepreneurship
Trailblazer James Wanjohi is the first to set up an institution that entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson has lent his name to.
His vast and varied experience in the field of developing entrepreneurs includes the establishment of the South African Breweries Kickstart programme, which he spent five years managing. His skills have been sought after around the globe in countries such as Botswana, Tanzania and India. He was nominated as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2009, has been a member of the Endeavor — the US-based international non-profit organisation that nurtures high-impact entrepreneurs — and been a volunteer judge on the Technoserve and Enablis business plan competitions. — Jane Steinacker
Lunch spot: Anywhere in Rosebank or Melrose Arch, Johannesburg
Alan Knott-Craig Jnr, Managing director,iBurst
The son of former Vodacom’s chief executive Alan Knott-Craig Snr, Alan Jnr is a major player in the ICT space in his own right. He is the managing director of iBurst, formerly known as WBS. But he recently announced that he will be resigning from iBurst as soon as it can find a suitable replacement.
Knott-Craig Jnr says that he has decided to resign from iBurst because he wants to move with his family to the Cape . ‘My wife is from Stellenbosch and my whole family is down in the Cape so I have decide to choose my family over my work”.
He added that he would be looking at potential business opportunities once he has relocated with his family.
Knott-Craig Jnr was appointed as managing director of iBurst in the beginning of 2006 when Blue Label Investment bought a share of the company. With iBurst’s chief executive Thami Mtshali, they have turned the wireless broadband operator into a major player. — Lloyd Gedye
Lunch spot: Col’Cacchio’s, Benmore, Johannesburg
Nicole Fritz, Director, South African Litigation Centre
When a cargo ship packed to the brim with arms destined for Zimbabwe wanted to dock in Durban’s harbour, it was Nicole Fritz from the SA Litigation Centre in Braamfontein who made sure that this did not happen.
Fritz doesn’t punch above her weight — she is a heavyweight. And one with an impressive selection of academic credentials behind her name including a bachelor of arts degree, an LLB, a diploma in international criminal law from Antwerp and a master’s degree in law from New York University. This is not a caftan and leather sandal wearing woman, but probably one of the most stylish activist attorneys. In fact, she says, she would love to be the editor of Vogue. — Jane Steinacker
Lunch spot: Moemas, Parktown, Johannesburg
Schalk van Rooyen, Managing director, Media Contact
When Schalk van Rooyen was 25, he walked out of his perfectly good graphic design job to start his own business. Van Rooyen had just bought his first apartment and his parents flipped. Fast-forward five years and paying his bond is the least of his worries. Now van Rooyen is more concerned about how to handle anywhere between 10 and 20 projects at a time for his company, Media Contact.
The group, which produces 3D perspectives and graphic animation for some of the top property developers in the country, recently secured the revamp project for a New York airport and a new rail system in Nigeria. — Tanya Pampalone
Dario Milo, Partner,Webber Wentzel
Dario calls himself a ‘journalist trapped in a lawyer’s body”. He developed his passion for media as an article clerk, and has represented Zapiro in cases against Jacob Zuma and the ANC. He has defended the Mail & Guardian, Carte Blanche, Avusa and The Star against the bare teeth of those who attempt to limit free speech.
Satire, he feels, is fundamental in our society. Milo sees his job as protecting the Constitution and expects lawyers to protect the media, which in turn informs the electorate.
Occasionally he gets called on to write opinion pieces and chat on radio talk shows. — Ilham Rawoot
Lunch spot: Moema’s, Parktown North, Johannesburg