Our Trustees

Ian is a knowledge management consultant and leadership development specialist. He is a geologist by profession and has lectured at various universities on applied management. Ian is passionate about developing leaders and high performing teams with extensive international experience in both. He is an Associate of Warwick Business School’s Knowledge and Innovation network (KIN). Ian has over 25 years’ experience in the corporate sector.

Ali is a teacher and author. From 1995 to 2022, Ali ran her own business, Cape for Kids, which won the Caltex Environmental Award for Excellence. She has written six children’s books and a book on the history of Oranjemund, Diamond Beaches. It is her dream to uplift and offer a “Starting Chance” to children who have not had opportunities in their lives. She has a passion to train and develop teachers to help them to believe in themselves so they feel empowered to make a difference.

Carl is a certified Chartered Accountant. After serving 3 years articles at Deloitte, he joined his father in a small accounting practice providing services to small businesses. He has also had a history of providing such services to non-profit entities, particularly those involved in demonstrating God’s love and justice to a broken world. Currently he lives on an idyllic paradise in the Klein Karoo with his wife, 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 horses and about 20 chickens.

Alister was born and raised in Cape Town, and after completing an undergraduate degree in education spent 18 years teaching. His passion for education is equally matched by his love for IT, and in 2010, he had the opportunity to continue his studies, completing a Masters Degree in Commerce (Information Systems) at UCT. He now runs Cloud Education Solutions, a company that assists schools in deploying Google for Education, with an aim to transform teaching and learning so that every student can realise their full learning potential.

Ken, a chemical engineer by training who has also studied economics, has spent over 30 years in the corporate world specialising in Supply Chain Economics, Commodity Trading and Price Risk Management. He has always wanted to give back to his fellow South Africans and help re-dress the wrongs of the past. Through his wife, Belinda, who is a teacher, Ken has seen how vitally important early childhood development is, in helping a person reach their full potential and he wants to help improve ECD centres in the townships.

Wanga has a doctorate in Social Policy and a strong background in community and social work. She supports Starting Chance’s goal to change the outlook of parents so that they can provide support for their children, play with them in a meaningful way and engage with the school that their children attend. Wanga participates in parent workshops to give parents support.

Our Advisers

Giles is an attorney in private practice, based in Cape Town. An alumni of Rhodes University, Giles has been practising as an attorney, advocate and conveyancer for over 30 years. He has served on the legal panel of various banks, in addition to serving a broad spectrum of personal and corporate clients. Giles’ extensive knowledge in property law has assisted Starting Chance tremendously in the procurement of land for buidling schools.

Belinda is a qualified primary school teacher with a further remedial qualification. She has many years of experience teaching foundation phase and children with learning difficulties. From 2011 to 2018 she operated her own playschool. She feels passionate about the role early years’ education has in transforming the lives of underprivileged children in the townships, by helping to break the cycle of poverty and giving children the best possible chance to stay in the school system.

Meryl studied education, specialising in Early Childhood Development. She has over 35 year experience working in education, including 14 years’ experience as a Principal. She has coached and supported principals and teachers in the education environment. She plays a leadership role in ECD through NAPTOSA, Union for Educators in South Africa and has also had the privilege of representing her country at the World Forum Foundation for ECD. Meryl spearheaded the Starting Chance Training and Development programme from inception to 2023, when she retired but remains involved in a role supporting our alumni principals.