Our impact

Dr. Armand Bam – Chairperson

Armand Bam received a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Cape Town and is the Head of Social Impact and member of the Management Committee at Stellenbosch Business School (SBS) Armand is responsible for leading SBS’s social impact (SI) philosophy and strategy and oversees the execution of SI processes, programmes and projects. He is a Senior Lecturer on the MBA Business in Society Module on community engagement; Quality and Integrity in Leadership on the PGDip in Leadership with a focus on NPOs; and the Elective Module, Unlocking the SDG’s to be socially impactful on the PGDip Business Management and Administration. His professional interests include inclusion & workplace diversity, non-profit management & leadership. As a practitioner, Armand has over two decades experience in the non-profit sector in various capacities and currently serves as the Chair of the Instructional Leadership Institute.

Helga Nefdt

As the founder of The Juno Collective and Ninety9.zero, Helga supports emerging and accomplished leaders with strategic HR and employment law advice, guidance, developmental and wellness coaching.
Her experience as a Human Resources Generalist, facilitator, mediator and dispute resolution specialist, combined with her coaching approach, supports organizations in navigating change and transitioning towards growth.
With a Bachelor of Technology in Human Resources, a postgraduate diploma in Employment Law, an LLM in Dispute Resolution, and a coaching certification from the Centre for Coaching at the University of Cape Town’s Business School, Helga’s empathetic and pragmatic approach is focused on providing practical, workable solutions that promote integrity and trust.
Helga brings a wealth of knowledge from various industries such as higher education, financial services, automotive, logistics, NGO, and government sectors. With a people-centred approach, employment law expertise, and integral coaching skills, Helga is committed to promoting responsible leadership.

Steve Sherry CMG OBE

Steve is an experienced Chief Executive delivering social impact through organisational transformation and partnerships. He joined the ILI Board in 2023 whilst in an interim role as Director of Operations at the Educational Partnerships Group (EPG) with teams across sub-Saharan Africa. He is passionate about enabling individuals and communities to improve their lives and was Chief Executive of the Royal British Legion Industries (RBLI) for 12 years, working with Veterans and others with disabilities, implementing its ambitious ‘Improving Lives Every Day’ strategy. His earlier career was in the Army with considerable leadership experience in international and operational settings. He has studied in Canada, the USA and Pakistan. Steve is now the Chief Executive of Compaid, in the UK, an impactful charity that supports disabled, older and other disadvantaged people to realise their potential through helping them to overcome the barriers of social, digital and economic exclusion.
Steve is proud to be part of the fantastic ILI team.

Salma Seedat

Salma has over 20 years’ experience in the private sector and in international development, working with local and international development agencies to facilitate the achievement of collective impact goals across sectors such as education, healthcare, poverty alleviation and job creation. Besides being the Executive Director, Salma currently lectures at the Stellenbosch University Business School on leadership and strategic management.
She holds an MBA specialising in managing international organisations and received the top achiever’s award for best research assignment in any master’s degree. She was also selected as the alumnus of the year 2020 for social impact. Salma has additional qualifications in development finance, project management and human resources management. She was also a finalist in the 2023 Santam Women of the Future Awards in the category of Social Entrepreneur.
She has consulted to governments, companies, higher education institutions and non-profit organisations on impact investing initiatives with the aim of driving investment into the development of women and youth in Africa. Salma bring a wealth of knowledge in international development and is passionate about working with like-minded people to build a sustainable and inclusive global economy.

I am James Isaacs, Deputy-Principal at Firgrove Primary School. I started at Firgrove Primary School in January 2021 as a HOD. Within two weeks of me starting there, the principal Mr. Wyngaard asked me to act as Deputy-Principal and a week after that I had to act as Principal because our Principal went off with comorbidity leave. It was very difficult for me because here I am at a school where I do not know anybody and in a position of which I have no experience.

When my principal came back from leave I spoke to him and asked for advice on how to better myself as a leader, because I realized I needed a lot of help. When I heard about the ILI programme, my principal advised me to apply. Unfortunately I was not accepted with my first application but luckily for me I succeeded on the second try.

The value of the ILI programme for me was that I learnt a lot on how to be a true leader at my school. I was taught how to move out of my comfort zone and found out by doing that, my interaction with my fellow educators, learners and parents greatly improved. There was a whole change on how I approached and dealt with people and things at school level. It was totally unbelievable what impact the ILI programme had on me as a person and a leader at my school.

As deputy-principal there is a lot of admin to do and at the beginning it sometimes seemed as if there were not enough hours in the day to do everything. By doing the ILI programme I was taught and showed how to manage my time and now you find that there is actually enough time to get everything done. Every new or novice teacher that comes to our school is assigned to me for coaching in instructional leadership. Now we have teachers at our school that know exactly what to do in their class to get 100% from their learners. I am currently still going to classes for coaching purposes, but now I am not doing it alone anymore, now we have the principal and the whole SMT doing it and by using the “hook” all our educators are on board.

Thank you ILI, you made a huge impact on me and our school. I will recommend anyone to do this course.