A prominent business woman from the rural areas

Mme Sylvia Leabile is a rare breed hailing from Bendell village in the Northern Cape Province. She is a powerful business woman who never allowed her circumstances to dictate her future. She lives a life upholding values of  love, forgiveness, letting go of past experiences without resentment, confronting what needs to be confronted, embracing new things, giving people the benefit of doubt, forgiving wholeheartedly, protecting what she believes in at all cost and understanding that people can support and at the same time hurt you.  She is a survivor- hard-nut to crack. She is always in charge with a will do it if you won’t do it attitude. She is a perfectionist of some sort, even though very empowering. She does not take “No” for an answer.  

As a workaholic, she sometimes thinks that everyone must be a hard worker like her, only to find that it is not always the case and she becomes disappointed. She usually makes all kinds of outrageous statements that would get everybody worked up. Some people get upset with the messenger and not paying attention to the message. She has an “uncompromising approach” and “in your face” style which is very often misunderstood. She is the Chairperson of “PAW” Phenomenal African Woman - South Africa and Chairperson of Hebzibah Cooperative Bank situated at the North West Province. Sylvia is also a founder of Sylvia Leabile Foundation which focuses on Women, Youth and Community Development and Empowerment. 

She is a Director & Shareholder at Tsela Tshweu Pty) Ltd which focuses on building value in the investee companies, by providing Resources, Organizational Development Support, Strategic Business Development and highly skilled and talented management teams in the continent.  

She also runs Sharufa holdings, a company that focuses on mining and construction.   

My Guiding principles in relation to Courage as opposed to Fear   The greatest fear in the world is of the opinions of others. The moment you are unafraid of the crowd you are no longer a sheep, you become a lion. A great roar arises in your heart, “the roar of freedom.”    Also, when you are a person who wants to impact others and make a lasting change in the lives of people, you cannot afford to live in fear.   You can either be a person who is a coward, afraid, ready to submit, surrender, a person who has no dignity, no respect for his/her own being—or you can be fearless.  But then you are going to be a rebel, you cannot avoid that. Either you can be a man of faith or you are going to be a rebellious spirit.  

Leadership  
In 1999, she was nominated the "Best Young Women Entrepreneur" at the National Association for Women in Business (NAWBO) awards. She is a Motivational speaker, facilitator for Enterprise Development and Capacity Building.  

She is an architect of Youth and Women Empowerment and Development initiatives. Sylvia believes that each challenge is a lesson for her and about her.  When you are challenged there is a greater power firmly holding you. You can't live your life planning how to escape hurt and disappointment but you can choose how to look at life. 

 Her promise is to bring joy, love, peace and happiness for the people around her and she does that so well.   She can be best described as a “Self- Appointed Leader” and has a firm belief that when you depend on others to appoint you - you automatically give them power to disappoint you too.  

Leabile  has served in a lot of Boards and Organisations including but not limited to the following:

      ·         National Board member for SABCOHA (2012-2014); 

·         Deputy Chairperson Human Resource and Skills Development Trust for John Taolo Gaetsewe District Municipality, in the Northern Cape (2000-2002); 

·         Director & Shareholder of SSIS Pipeline Services (Water Bulk line condition assessment & leak detection) 2005 - 2016 

·         Board Member Access Chapter 2 – Current

Chairperson PAW SA (Phenomenal African Women) an affiliate of Pan African Union (Current)  

·         Chairperson/Co-founder of Hebzibah Women Corporative Bank (Current)  

·         Author:  Oh what a life! An inspirational, motivational book. 

Such a calibre of a leader is rare to find. It is amazing that in all these, she is a family woman and a great mother of two. She just recently launched a personal website:  “Passion to Empower” focusing on women entrepreneurs, women in business & youth development.