Our Ceo
Co-Founder and CEO at Imbeleko Foundation | Eisenhower Fellow 2016 | Aspen Institute 2017 Socrates Fellow | Vital Voices 2015 GAP & 2016 VV100 Alum | 2010 BWA Gauteng Business Achiever Award Winner l TedX Speaker
Sbu is a Banker turned Social Entrepreneur and Rural Child Education Activist who holds a B Com Statistical Science) from UCT. She quit her International Banking career in 2011, to launch Imbeleko Foundation as a legacy project to honor her late twin sister.
After being diagnosed with Stage IV Glioblastoma Multiforme brain tumour and being granted only 9 months to live - my twin sister, Seni bought me 2 dvd copies of the movie, Pay It Forward. This was the best way she knew how to keep me committed to the pact we made during our first year at the University of Cape Town - that we’d pay it forward to the next generation of talented children in our rural community of KwaNyuswa in the Valley of 1000 Hills because a community of scholarship Funders and mentors had ensured we received quality education that our parents could not afford.
The White House with Barack Obama
She is regarded as a Rural Child Activist and Education Expert globally and has been invited to lecture and talk on various topics including HIV / Aids and its impact on vulnerable rural children, the rural economy and social impact tourism.
In the last 10 years of leading Imbeleko Foundation, she has:
One of 30 Global Education Experts invited to participate in the Positive Education Summit at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 2019; with Scholars from Yale University, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, etc.
Developed Imbeleko’s Social Impact Tourism Concept in a World Economic Forum Project and subsequently invited by renowned Prof Kunle Adeyemi to Harvard Univerisity in 2017 to address and review his Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design Work that would be featured in a book, Building Industries in African Water Cities; which also includes the Imbeleko Concept.
US Lectures on “Creating Rural Economies” in 2017 and 2018
University of Texas, El Paso
Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
Hosted the TedXLytteltonWomen Talk in November 2017 and 2018
Moderated a Panel Discussion at the Eisenhower Fellowship Annual Conference in Spain in 2017 – Youth Driven Solutions to Creating a Stronger Future for All
Speaker on “Education of the Rural Child” and “Rural Development” at different platforms in South Africa and globally including her TedX Talk – “Educating the rural girl child.”
With General Colin Powell
7. Chosen to be on The Bank of America’s Global Health Public Forum Panel in 2015 with Deborah Dugan; CEO of RED, and Dr. Sipho Moyo, then Africa Director of the ONE campaign (both organisations were founded by the music group U2’s BONO) – talking about HIV / AIDS and what Imbeleko Foundation has managed to achieve in the fight against the pandemic through providing Education Support Programmes for vulnerable children in the Valley of a 1000 Hills.
This has resulted in her curating a Digital AfterSchool Education Support Model for Vulnerable Rural Children to be rolled out in rural communities throughout South Africa, in partnership with:
Yale University
University of Pennsylvania
Thought Leader & Speaker
Travelling around the US (15 States) on the following Fellowships, researching AfterSchool Programming and Digital Learning Solutions:
Global Ambassador Programme 2015
Eisenhower Fellow 2016
VV100 Fellow 2016 - most engaged and visionary members of the Vital Voices Global Leadership Network
Aspen Institute Socrates Fellow 2017
Cordes Fellow 2018, Opportunity Collaboration