Louise van Rhyn

Biography

Dr Louise van Rhyn is a social entrepreneur. She believes the worlds' huge intractable problems can be solved through cross-sector collaboration and a solid understanding of complex social change. She holds a Doctorate in Complex Social Change and has founded a few entrepreneurial organisations.

Louise is the designer of the Partners for Possibility (PfP) programme – an innovative nation building and leadership development process for business and school leaders. Business leaders develop their capacity to lead in a complex and unfamiliar environment by becoming a co-learning and co-action partner to a school principal. The focus of their partnership is to lead positive change in an under-resourced school, thereby reducing inequality in education. Through these partnerships previously under-resourced schools mobilise the gifts and contributions available from business and community members around the schools.

So far more than 2,800 leaders across South Africa have benefited from the programme and they’ve won many national and international awards. Leaders report that they learn more about leadership from working with a school in an under-resourced community than attending a course at a business school. School leaders are equipped and empowered with the skills and agency to lead change at their schools.