Wendy Appelbaum - 11th Edition Cover Icon

Celebrating 20 Years Of Gender Empowerment With Our Cover Icon Catch Up!

Wendy is a member of Harvard University's Women's Leadership Board and Harvard's Global Advisory Council and is also a member of the International Women's Forum and Board Member Of Synergos Africa

By Fiona Wakelin and Koketso Mamabolo

Wendy Appelbaum continues to be deeply involved in strategic philanthropy, focusing on meaningful investments and social impact.

“I’m still very involved with women’s organisations - like the International Women’s Forum and Women Moving Millions. I love to fight the good fight. As a social activist, I really find the world an unfair place to be. And I think women still need that leg up. So I do quite a bit of mentoring and go to conferences to see what’s happening around the world in terms of women. And slowly but surely I think we are moving up in the world. I must say I still find South Africa to be ahead of the game more than most of them. To which we can really thank Nelson Mandela who put women into the forefront.

“I’m a fighter. I know I was born like that. I’m going to die like that, I promise you. I’m going to go down fighting, making things happen and getting things done. In the wine industry we started this Cape wine auction where we put back into the education of the kids so that we can actually take them out of poverty. Because there’s a terrible cycle. So it’s schooling and feeding programmes and extra murals and trying to keep the kids stimulated and educated. So, that takes quite a bit of time, which I really do enjoy. And I think we’re having great success.”

She holds various directorships, trusteeships and is a member of numerous organisations registered both in South Africa and abroad including the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre (Pty) Ltd, a postgraduate teaching hospital of the University of the Witwatersrand which trains doctors from around the continent; The Donald Gordon Foundation, the largest private charitable foundation in Africa; the World Wide Fund for Nature South Africa (WWF-SA). She is a director of Sphere Holdings (Pty) Ltd, a black empowerment company focused in the financial services and mining sectors and a Director of WESGRO (Western Cape Tourism, Trade & Investment).

Wendy is a member of Harvard University’s Women’s Leadership Board and Harvard’s Global Advisory Council and is also a member of the International Women’s Forum and Board member of Synergos Africa. She was previously the Deputy-Chairman of Women’s’ Investment Portfolio Limited (Wiphold Limited), the first women controlled company to list on the JSE with then-assets in excess of R1-billion.

“One of my favourite things is leaving a ding in the universe and making a difference - and it takes an enormous amount of my energy and time.”