The 5th Annual Young Leaders Connect (YLC) – IDEAL Leadership Summit and Awards returns on 29 August 2025 with fresh, bold conversations, and a powerful theme: Harnessing Collective Power.
This year’s edition promises to be the most dynamic to date, bringing together South Africa’s trailblazing young women in leadership, entrepreneurship, policy, finance, and development for a full day of insight, recognition and connection.
Once again hosted at the prestigious Standard Bank Global Leadership Centre, the summit marks the culmination of Women’s Month by emphasizing effective leadership that is grounded in ethical principles, whilst navigating today’s dynamic and evolving landscape.
As in previous years, the IDEAL Leadership Summit will run during the day, followed by the highly anticipated IDEAL Awards ceremony in the evening. The awards continue to honour outstanding young women whose innovation, resilience and commitment are shaping the country’s leadership narrative across boardrooms, communities, and emerging markets.
This year’s summit builds on five extraordinary years of consistent growth and meaningful impact through the YLC IDEAL Programme, anchored by four core pillars: Board Leadership, Mentorship, Entrepreneurship, and Conversations. The programme features dynamic panel discussions, entrepreneurial exhibitions, and candid dialogues across key sector.
Highlighted discussions will include:
- The Business of Collaboration: Powered By Women and Youth – A dynamic exchange with founders and creators showcasing how women and youth are harnessing their agency through strategic collaboration, innovation, and disruption.
- Global Power Shifts: Leadership Strategies for an Evolving World Order – Unpacks shifting global power dynamics and what they mean for Africa’s women and youth.
- From Zero to Power: Cultivating Influence – A TED-style talk highlighting how leadership, grounded in strategy, trust, and collective power, builds influence and drives impact beyond traditional privilege.
- Fireside Chat: From Local Grit to Global Greatness – Exploring leadership, resilience, and teamwork through the lens of sport
- The Great Debate: Are Women Set Up to Fail in Leadership? – A high-impact, moderated debate that tackles the often-unspoken tensions and challenges in women’s advancement.
- A powerful Keynote Address will be delivered by Ms Nolitha Fakude, President of Internal Women’s Forum of South Africa.
The summit also features the IDEAL Entrepreneurship Exhibit, spotlighting women-owned businesses across sectors including wellness, agribusiness, finance, beauty, tech, and the creative industries, reinforcing YLC’s commitment to empowering young women as entrepreneurs, solutionists, and agents of change.
YLC Co-Chair Zandile Makhanya is especially excited about the scale and depth of this year’s summit and awards:
“We’ve been intentional in building a platform rooted in purpose and driven by meaningful impact. This year’s IDEAL Summit and Awards reflect our continued commitment to empowering young women, not only with inspiration, but with influence and tangible opportunities for action.
Fellow Co-Chair Katekani Hlaise adds:
“We’re not just discussing the power of collective action, we’re actively bringing it to life and demonstrating its significance through engaging conversations. As we celebrate the five-year milestone of YLC, we deeply appreciate the collective strength and support of IWFSA and Standard Bank, which have been instrumental in getting us to this point.
The event is proudly supported by Standard Bank, whose continued sponsorship and support underscores its dedication to advancing youth and women in leadership.
“Standard Bank is proud to sponsor the YLC IDEAL Leadership Summit and Awards, particularly because it honours individuals dedicated to creating equitable and inclusive environments for young women leaders. We recognise that South Africa still has work to do in achieving gender parity, and we reaffirm our commitment to contributing to the solution through both action and dialogue,” says Funeka Montjane, Chief Executive of Personal and Private Banking at Standard Bank Group.
The International Women’s Forum South Africa (IWFSA), the parent organisation of YLC, also returns as a key partner and will headline the event alongside a diverse group of inspiring women leaders committed to shaping the country’s leadership future.
About YLC
The Young Leaders Connect (YLC) is an initiative of The International Women’s Forum South Africa (IWFSA). In August 2020, IWFSA relaunched the Young Leaders Connect IDEAL Program (“YLC IDEAL “), with the aim of developing the next generation of ethical women leaders. Through various initiatives, Young Leaders Connect (YLC) is dedicated to empowering young professional women and future leaders with the necessary skills, knowledge, and networks to make a positive impact to society.
About IWFSA
The International Women’s Forum South Africa (IWFSA) is the local chapter of the International Women’s Forum (IWF), a global organization of over 8000 preeminent women leaders from 36 countries and 76 forums. IWFSA is dedicated to nurturing and developing the next generation of women leaders through targeted leadership development programs, mentoring, and coaching. IWFSA’s vision is to be a distinctly impactful forum to advance women as agents for systemic change and ethical leadership.
About Standard Bank
Standard Bank Group is the largest African bank by assets, operating in 20 African countries, 4 global financial centres and 2 offshore hubs. Our strategic position, which enables us to connect Africa to other select emerging markets as well as pools of capital in developed markets, and our balanced portfolio of businesses, provide significant opportunities for growth. As at 31 December 2024, Standard Bank Group had 20 million clients, employed over 50 000 people (including Liberty) and had over 1 150 points of representation and 5 500 ATMs across the African continent.
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