City of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Jana Du Plooy is the Founding CEO of Apex Education, an organization that aims to make high-quality education accessible to children from low-income communities. Apex Education exists to challenge the relationship between quality education and cost, specifically by reimagining the century-old (unchanged) design of the classroom, redefining the critical role of the teacher and deploying technology to enhance children’s learning experiences. Jana has spent more than a decade working in the social sector, in various industries, organizations, and roles. She holds LLB (law) and MBA (cum laude) degrees from the University of Stellenbosch and is an HP Cambridge Partnership for Education EdTech 2024 Fellow. As a hopeless disruptor, driven by an insatiably curious nature, she finds the opportunity to work on humanity’s biggest challenges highly rewarding, humbling and deeply meaningful.
Co-Own and manage all aspects of the business, with projects operating on a national basis within South Africa. Consulting and Projects include: • Job Analysis and Evaluation • Organisational Design • Creating High Performing Teams through training, coaching and implementation of rigorous performance system • Recruitment and Selection • Career coaching and development guidance • Learning and Development • Workforce skills planning • Initiatives on development and upskilling of junior- and middle management • Develop Online Learning Solutions
Responsible for: • Lead the Corporate Services department and have an oversight of a range of areas of operation, including: o IT o Call Center o Risk and Compliance o Records Management o Stakeholder Relations, Marketing, PR and Advocacy o Human Resource Management • Ensure implementation of people, culture, training and recruitment strategies that maximize individual and organisational capability • Provide strategic input and oversee the project management for the implementation of a long-term ICT strategy • Provide strategic input to ensure the implementation of effective systems for proactive risk management, legislative compliance, reliable records and information management. • Ensure that all policies and governance frameworks within disciplines under management are drafted, updated and implemented across the organisation • Oversee all tender and procurement processes, expenditure, budgets and financial results within department • Oversee budget and expenditure in relation to organisational support costs. • Design and oversee dashboards and reports • Serve as a member of the organisation’s Executive Committee, Management Committee, Transformation Committee and Provident Fund Management Committee • Presentations to Board and Committees Achievements: • Successful implementation of first in-house Call Centre • Design and implementation of Fixed and Variable Remuneration structures and policies • Design and implementation of an electronic organisational Performance Management system • Oversee organisational wide role review, drafting of job descriptions and grading of all roles • Review of entire IT and HR policy environments • Design and Implementation of IT governance framework • Implementation of cross functional, automated CRM system • Design and implementation of Stakeholder Engagement Strategy • Design and implementation of organisation’s graduate and internship programme • Appointed to act as CEO during periods of her absence