Closing the digital skills gap in Africa during a time of change

Ursula Fear is a seasoned professional that has focused on talent and skills development in South Africa for more than 20 years. In her career she has played a significant role in spearheading the design of qualifications, built and designed award winning development interventions and assisted in establishing an education NGO called TEACH South Africa. She was a Human Capital Partner at Deloitte and has contributed to many human capital consulting projects from talent management, executive leadership development and HR strategy. She was the first woman to serve on the Deloitte Consulting Leadco heading up the Talent & Culture portfolio. Ursula was instrumental in assisting in the build of a talent platform called ‘Talent Talks’ (www.talenttalks.net) a collaborative social platform aimed at driving talent collaboration and knowledge sharing between corporate South Africa. In 2017 she participated as the only African in the first global masterclass at Nyenrode Business Universiteit (Amsterdam, Netherlands) that focused on future learning and leadership development. She served as the Managing Director of Training at the Adcorp Group overseeing their training businesses consisting of a technical training colleges (ATT), a higher education institute (PMI), disability (I Can!) and ICT training business (Torque IT). Ursula is now part of Salesforce (South African country office) as their Senior Talent Program Manager, where her mandate is to grow the skills for the country. Ursula is a passionate South African that truly believes she is in the ‘business of changing lives’. That is the sole reason she has joined Salesforce so that she can work with an organisation that is intrinsically aligned to her value system.

Spending most of his commendable career in the hospitality industry, Brian has always had a passion for social upliftment, aiding and developing sustainable community projects, some of which are still running today. He joined Rise Against Hunger in 2015 as the Johannesburg Branch Manager, soon taking over the position of National Operations Manager.