A successful launch of the Roedean Girls’ Leadership Summit
HOUGHTON – The first leadership summit at Roedean was successful in inspiring those in attendance to live a life of significance.
Roedean School (SA) hosted its inaugural Girls’ Leadership Summit: Leading a Life of Significance, on 28 September.
This year’s summit aimed to discuss critical social issues that affect young women.
Roedean has a proud tradition of educational excellence. Their mission remains the same as when the school was founded in 1903, which is to focus on empowering young women for the workplace. Roedean’s tag line, Inspiring a life of Significance, instils in the learners a genuine understanding of the socio-economic realities of the world and encourages the girls to contribute personally to the lives of others.
There were two dynamic women thought leaders who were the main speakers to open and close the summit – entrepreneur and Roedean old girl Rapelang Rabana and Nunu Ntshingila, CEO of Facebook Africa.
Well-respected media practitioners of the Roedean community, Debora Patta, Joanne Joseph, Ray Hartley, Milton Nkosi and Phemelo Motene were emcees and other journalists who included well-known experts such as Professor Adam Habib and Nizenande Machi moderated the panel discussions. The Roedean girls were integral in all the panels and activities.
The full-day event commenced with a little more than 500 guests in attendance from the Roedean community.
The main premise of Rabana’s presentation was that we need to understand ourselves to tap into our full potential, becoming a leader requires one to embark on a journey of self-discovery.
Hard work alone will not, in her opinion, bring success. It must be accompanied by a unique contribution to bring value to one’s endeavours. It is critical for leaders to make a conscious choice of what their contribution will be to address the imperatives of society. In this way, each one of us can create our own value.
Two panels consisting of members from different sectors within and without the Roedean community discussed issues and the wisdom offered by many of the panellists was invaluable and included:
- Leaders must display authenticity, integrity and intentionality
- Remain true to your values and do the right thing
- Listen, hear and give others your undivided attention.
The final plenary session of the day was a presentation by Ntshingila who approached the topic of leadership from an African context. She said a much more connected Africa would be more powerful, and this should bring about a more equitable society.
All who attended appeared to have learnt a great many ‘pearls of wisdom’ and had been challenged to think deeply about leadership. The inaugural summit seems to have been a resounding success that will assist in inspiring lives of significance.
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