ANDREW PLANTING

Andrew Planting is co-founder of Market Makers, a specialist Angel Investment company. Andrew worked internationally in the investment banking sector and headed up the European team for a US management consulting company. Andrew’s focus is in the USA market through two of their current investments namely, ComboCap Health and Stoak Technologies.

Andrew was a founding member of the SAYes UK board until 2020, and is the founding Chair of the SAYes South African board.

LYSETTE TSHIKUNA

Lysette Tshikuna is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, but she grew up in the care system in South Africa. Lysette first joined SAYes as a mentee in 2014 and she has benefitted from the guidance and support of many SAYes mentors since then. She completed her undergraduate studies at Stellenbosch University followed by a BCom Honours degree in Finance at the University of Cape Town.

Lysette hopes that her involvement with the SAYes alumni group and her experience of the care system in South Africa will be of great value to the SAYes board.

MARK JANSE VAN RENSBURG

Mark Janse van Rensburg is husband to Shannon and father to Luke and Isabella. Mark loves sport (both participating and spectating) with a special affinity for rugby. This dates back to his early years of teaching where he coached high school sport, taught Mathematics, Business Economics and Physical Education. Mark finds the coaching and mentoring of young adults extremely rewarding and often he claims to have learned more from his students than they did from him.

Mark’s love for education was maintained long after he left the teaching fraternity and eventually resulted in him co-founding a skills development company with three partners. Today he is Managing Director of Kwelanga Training, which has a national footprint, and offers both short courses, accredited programmes and learnerships to employees. He is also co-founder of Trainers on Tap and he sits on the board of SmartStep, an E-Learning joint venture.

Mark is grateful for the opportunity to join the SAYes board where he hopes to make a positive contribution to the good work SAYes is doing in the community.

MICHELLE POTTER

Michelle is Executive Director and founder of SAYes.

After working in the music industry for 12 years, Michelle then re-trained and qualified with the UK Football Association as a coach. She went on to coach football in London and New York for three years before returning to Roehampton University in 2004, to become a full-time student.

At University, she studied Education with additional subjects in Human Rights and Philosophy. In 2007, she graduated from Roehampton University with a BA (Hons) in Education.

In 2008, Michelle received the Froebel Guild Award for her dissertation on children in care in South Africa and the UK.  It was the same year that she moved to Cape Town, where she has lived and worked ever since, leading SAYes.