Women of the Year Award Winners Announced!
Five exceptional, visionary women were announced as the Shoprite Checkers Women of the Year at a glitzxy gala event held in Johannesburg on 24 July.
 The 2010 Women of the Year Award this year also celebrated a South African who during her lifetime has inspired generations. Dr Mamphela Ramphele was honoured with this 2010 Lifetime Achiever Award
The 2010 Women of the Year are:
Corner Shop to Big Business Makers
 Ms Lucilla Booyzen is a stalwart of the South African Fashion Industry and the woman who launched South African Fashion Week (SAFW). It was the first independent showcase for the country’s fashion designers and has contributed substantially to the growth and future of the South African fashion industry locally and abroad. She has developed a distinctive South African design ethos and culture through SA Fashion Week, which now also incorporates a number of initiatives to encourage skills transfer, foster new partnerships and support empowerment. SA Fashion Week is presented twice a year in Johannesburg and has created a platform for fashion designers to show their collections and network with the media, the industry and their clients. It includes an Exhibition and a Seminar where the focus is on business development and transferral of skills. She has also introduced a SA Fashion Week mentorship programme and Fashion Fusion. The latter is supported by the Department of Arts and Culture and has since inception six years ago, expanded to all nine provinces involving more than 1000 crafters working with top designers to develop contemporary crafting components collaboratively to produce design-lead and uniquely South African products. Her contribution to South African Fashion is unrivalled and she continues to grow opportunities with her vision and leadership for the future of this industry in the country.
Good Neighbours
 Ms Lesley Ann van Selm founded the Khulisa Crime Prevention Initiative 13 years ago using African stories to instil morals among offenders. Today Khulisa is a successful Section 21 (not-for-profit) company making a unique contribution to a safer South Africa now and in the future. Fuelled by her passion for working with marginalised people and armed only with her marketing expertise, experience in building companies for a new South Africa and a genuine belief in the importance of inter-cultural dialogue Ms Van Selm established Kulisa. Here she developed the concept of African stories for morals into a series of crime prevention and community development interventions aimed at offenders in prisons, ex-offenders and at-risk youth and vulnerable children in communities to restore their self esteem, prevent crime and reduce recidivism, make restitution, and offer socially responsible alternatives to gangs, drugs and crime. Those affected by crime are also included to help them overcome hurt, anger and reconcile with offenders who wished to make amends. Ms Van Selm built a strong team of people of whom 94% are women to manage the company where the cycle of crime is understood and programmes are targeted to address key issues and problems with deep cultural roots. Thousands of South Africans have turned their lives around as a result of their involvement with Khulisa.
Educators
 Ms Jackie Gallagher is the Founder and General Manager of the Sparrow Schools Educational Trust which started 20 years ago after she placed a small newspaper advertisement resulting in her teaching 4 learners on Saturdays in a church hall in Joubert Park in Johannesburg. The initiative grew to a well-respected educational organisation that has helped thousands of children prejudiced by the educational policies of the Apartheid Government to better their education and skills for a brighter future. Today the Sparrow Schools and Educational Trust are two interconnected projects catering for around 600 children and youth from impoverished communities at a time, employing 82 staff members at the Foundation School in Melville and the Sparrow Combined Vocational Training Centre in Sophiatown. Ms Gallagher took action realising that even though the Apartheid education policies were dismantled no formal programme existed for children from disadvantaged backgrounds to help them to slot into mainstream schools. For many it was a futile victory when schools opened to all races as they were never going to be able to fit in and would once again be left out in the cold. Ms Gallagher’s initiative gave them the lifeline they needed for quality, specialized and affordable education that would give them the way out of a life of poverty and non-achievement.
Youth Movers
 Ms Khanyisile Motsa founded the Berea-Hillbrow Home of Hope ten years ago and has since touched the lives of more than 8 000 street children who have had the opportunity to get their childhood back and have the prospect of becoming responsible citizens shaping the future of South Africa. She has used her indigenous knowledge with great success to get the project off the ground and then applied a strategy of firstly identifying the street children, mostly girls who have been exploited on the streets of Hillbrow, Berea and the Inner City of Johannesburg. The first challenge has always been to win their confidence to be able to withdraw them from the streets. Then to offer them a safe environment in which the healing process can start. After a period of nurturing and rehabilitation they are given the opportunity to go to formal and informal education which is the foundation of a successful adulthood. Employment opportunities are explored and they also have the opportunity to re-unite with their families. Ms Motsa has also importantly formed support and peer groups to monitor and support the street girls who in many instances were forced into prostitution on the streets by drug lords and pimps or have been victims of child labour and trafficking. Thousands of these street girls have had their dignity restored in the Berea-Hillbrow Home of Hope. They have truly been given a second chance in life.
Health Care-Givers
 Sister Jane Munyadziwa Dzebu is a dedicated professional nurse who has rekindled hope for healing while delivering world-class and pioneering nursing care for women who are treated for gynaecological cancers at the Charlotte Maxeke-Johannesburg Hospital. She heads the gynaecology cold case intake ward, Ward 196, at this state hospital which offers expertise and a multi-disciplinary approach as a tertiary service to patients with complex conditions which can’t be treated elsewhere. Her work in this ward is an example of how South Africa’s health facilities can be restored to formidable levels in the public sector with professionals (nurse practitioners and medical practitioners) backing their profession in deeds and action. Ward 196 is a model of nursing care where exceptional standards are maintained and highly motivated staff work under the leadership of Sr Dzebu. She mentors and teaches those working with her and senior students from all over the SADC region, who also receive medical exposure from the work done in this ward. Sr Dzebu has worked hard and obtained a Master‘s Degree in Nursing Science from UNISA to give total care to the patients irrespective of circumstances. She imparts this knowledge and practical skills daily. Her handling of post-operative complications is excellent and medical staff frequently turns to her for advice and guidance on caring for wounds.
Watch the Award ceremony on Women's Day, Monday, 9 August 2010 at 21h30 on M-Net.
Visit www.womenoftheyear.co.za for more.
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