ECO-LOGIC AWARDS 2021 SOUVENIR BROCHURE

A key focus of Yolan’s career has been
leadership development and strategy
facilitation, and she has participated in
programmes such as the Gordon Institute
for Business Science Nexus Development
Programme (2006), the Leadership for
Conservation in Africa council, the African
Leadership Seminar, and is a Fellow of the
Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship (2007).
Yolan was invited to participate in the Crans
Montana Forum in 2015 and was selected as a
GreenMatter Senior Fellow in 2014.
Yolan was a co-author of the biodiversity
chapter in the climate change book Bending
the Curve and in another publication called
Biodiversity Monitoring & Conservation:
Bridging the gap between global commitment
and local action published by the Zoological
Society of London in 2011. She was also
featured in the book “The best advice I ever
got” by Siya Mapoko and appeared in Woman
and Home magazine as one of a group of
“Powerful and Inspiring” women for 2012.
She was featured in the Financial Mail’s “Rain
Makers and Pot Stirrers – 100 of South Africa’s
most influential players in the mining sector” in
May 2013, among many other popular media
publications.
Yolan has dedicated her professional
life to conservation and advocating for
environmental justice, good governance, and
leadership development in the sector. During
her tenure at the helm of the EWT, she has
led the development and implementation of
an ambitious strategy that has seen the EWT
more than double its staff size, annual budget,
and footprint.
“Yolan’s endless energy and ambition have
guided, enabled, and leveraged conservation
efforts across the country and the African
continent. Her leadership and guidance
have seen the Endangered Wildlife Trust
grow, in the space of just ten years, from an
organization of a few dozen staff to over a
hundred dedicated and committed people
working to conserve our biodiversity and
natural heritage.”
Yolan and her team have developed impactful
and meaningful partnerships in multiple
sectors across the globe; secured critical
habitats through land purchase and protected
area expansion; driven the use of innovative
tools like drone technology and detection dogs
for conservation; supported the development
of future leaders through mentorship,
internships, and capacity development
programmes; engaged business meaningfully
in biodiversity conservation; and implemented
a suite of projects that are literally discovering
new species and changing the future of those
in peril. Yolan likes to lead from the back and
cites working with the EWT’s extraordinary
staff as the greatest privilege of her career.
“I have always maintained that
everyone at the EWT has the
opportunity to lead – using their
creativity, determination, innovation,
and courage to get things done and
make a difference. The EWT leadership
strives to ensure that the EWT offers
a platform for incredible people to do
incredible things, and seeing the impact
that this can have on our natural world
makes my role rewarding and my career
meaningful. I work with the best team
and have the best Board, and this award
is dedicated to them.”
When she isn’t hard at work, Yolan is an
avid and accomplished sportswoman,
having completed numerous
ultradistance running and cycling events,
including the Washie 100 miler (161
km) races, 15 Comrades Marathons,
staged Mountain Biking events, and
competed in horse riding, dog agility,
and dog jumping, having won the South
African Dog Jumping Championships and
being placed in the Gauteng Dressage
Championships.
Ian Little, Senior Conservation Manager EWT