Lara Kruiskamp has been appointed the new CEO of The President’s Award for Youth Empowerment Programme as of 1 March 2015.
She will be taking over from Martin Scholtz, who leaves the organisation at the end of February.
Scholtz has held this position for the past 12 years.
The organisation has its head office in Grahamstown.
Lara Kruiskamp has been appointed the new CEO of The President’s Award for Youth Empowerment Programme as of 1 March 2015.
She will be taking over from Martin Scholtz, who leaves the organisation at the end of February.
Scholtz has held this position for the past 12 years.
The organisation has its head office in Grahamstown.
During this time, the Award has grown significantly with a current reach of some 15 000 young people nationally, in schools, community youth groups, residential youth facilities and correctional centres.
The organisation received a national Impumelelo Award (Silver) in 2008 for its innovative partnership with the Department of Correctional Services; a number of Gold Award Holders have been awarded Mandela-Rhodes Scholarships, some also being awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University; a number of Award Participants have been invited to speak at dinners in Britain, hosted by the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation, to reflect on the impact of the Award Programme on their lives.
Significantly the organisation’s 30th anniversary was celebrated in 2013. It included a visit by Their Royal Highnesses, The Earl and Countess of Wessex to Grahamstown, and a Gold Award Ceremony with the royal couple and President Jacob Zuma in Cape Town.
Commenting on Scholtz’s departure, the Chairman of The President’s Award for Youth Empowerment Trust, Warren Clewlow, said, “As a result of a very functional and focused management team, there has been consistent growth in the number of people taking part in the Award Programme, along with the development of sound operational and financial accountability systems within the organisation during Martin’s involvement in the Award Programme. I would like to thank him for his personal commitment to the organisation and the young people that it serves”.
Kruiskamp attended DSG in Grahamstown in the 1990s and received both her Bronze Award (1993) and her Silver Award (1995) while at school.
Lara received her MBA from Pretoria University’s GIBS Business School in 2010, completing the electives of Social Entrepreneurship and Moral Leadership.
She has a B.Comm in Accounting and Information Systems, as well as a B.Comm Honours in Information Systems from Rhodes University in 2000 and 2001, respectively.
In the corporate environment, in her capacity as the Strategy and HR Manager at Private Property Pty (Ltd), her responsibilities included organisational development, strategy planning and execution, budgeting and financial oversight, internal communications and people management.
Prior to that she was Executive Assistant to the CEO of UTi South Africa Pty (Ltd) where she worked closely with Global and Africa Leadership teams.
Kruiskamp describes herself as a connector and an igniter, with strong interpersonal skills.
“It is an honour to serve as CEO to The President’s Award for Youth Empowerment. I am thrilled to be a part of a dynamic team to drive continued, sustainable youth development in South Africa”.
