Deputy President receives Lifetime Award for Leadership

Friday, June 23, 2017

Pretoria – Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has been presented with a Lifetime Award for Leadership by the Regenesys Business School.

The Lifetime Award for Leadership ceremony held at Regenesys Campus in Sandton, Johannesburg, on Thursday evening, recognised businessmen and women who have excelled in business management and leadership.

The Regenesys Business School consistently bestows awards on renowned business leaders across the world to acknowledge their outstanding work in the business sector.

In his acceptance speech, Deputy President Ramaphosa said to receive this type of award was both humbling and frightening.

“At 65 years old in November, I still feel like I have not yet even lived my life, and now to receive this Lifetime Award is a bit frightening, but I receive it with great humility and thank you for the honour that bestowed on me,” the Deputy President said.

He said the award belongs to many other people and to the people of South Africa.

“South Africa is a country that has given birth to many great leaders, people who have earned the respect and admiration not only of their fellow country people, but of many others around the world.

“We have learnt from the lives of those people that leaders are not born. They are made. They are moulded by circumstance, influenced by their elders, shaped by their peers, formed by the organisations they join and seasoned by the struggles they undertake. No leader stands alone,” he said.

He said an award for leadership is not only a recognition of past achievement, but it is also a statement of intent.

“In this case, it is a statement by Regenesys of the values it embraces, the society it wants to build and the leaders it seeks to produce.”

The Deputy President further challenged the Regenesys to cultivate the type of leader who sees the development of others as a value for shared growth and progress.

“As a business school, Regenesys not only imparts knowledge and develops skills. It also plays a role in the reproduction of organisational culture, in inculcating social values and in promoting business practices.

“As an institution of higher learning, you have to recognise your responsibility in shaping the consciousness of the business leaders you produce,” the Deputy President said. – SAnews.gov.za