Company Announcement - Engen is proud to announce that Lee Mark Du Preez, one of the brand’s successful local entrepreneurs on one of its Enterprise Development Programme’s, has been selected as a 2015 Washington Fellow, for the Mandela Washington Fellowship of Young African Leaders.

The Mandela Washington Fellowship is a flagship programme of the President of America’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), which represents President Obama’s commitment to investing in the future of Africa. The Washington Fellowship’s website states that; ‘through this initiative, young African leaders are gaining the skills and connections they need to accelerate their own career trajectories and contribute more robustly to strengthening democratic institutions, spurring economic growth, and enhancing peace and security in Africa. Selected Mandela Washington Fellows should be prepared for an academically and professionally challenging programme’.

Mr du Preez was alerted to the fellowship in 2013 and applied to participate, but unfortunately did not make it at the time. Says du Preez; “Having not quite made the cut in 2013, I continued to follow the initiative closely. In the interim, I attended a few of the Engen Pitch & Polish workshops, where I heard Allon Raiz talk about the Enterprise Development programmes that Engen offers, in partnership with Raizcorp. The Engen-Raizcorp programme really sparked my interest, and so I signed up and was accepted to commence the programme in April 2014.

“The programme has had a colossal impact on my life, because it has taught me how to think more strategically about my business, and be more aware of how the decisions I make could potentially impact my balance sheet. The training I have received has also improved my service offering, because I am now able to relate to my clients better, and as a result of this, offer them tailored guidance on B-BBEE which is critical for small businesses.” Having successfully run his business for 2 years, du Preez applied again for a spot on the 2015 Mandela Washington Fellowship of Young African Leaders programme, and his application was successful. Given his interest and experiences, he has been placed in the Business and Entrepreneurship track at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia. The full training programme commenced on the 19 June 2015, and will be completed on 06 August 2015.

“I am very proud at having been accepted for the fellowship this year, and am grateful to have been a part of the Engen-Raizcorp programme that has helped me attain this opportunity of a lifetime!” says Du Preez. “I’m looking forward to developing my leadership skills further and studying best practice methodologies from the Americans. Of course, what is going to be the icing on the cake is getting to meet President Obama!”

Concludes Unathi Njokweni-Magida, Group Transformation Manager at Engen Petroleum; “I would like to extend our congratulations to Lee, for being selected as a 2015 Washington Fellow, for this programme. We have no doubt that he will use this opportunity to his advantage and will absorb all the knowledge and information shared to the benefit of his further skills development and business growth. We wish him the best of luck and look forward to the feedback upon his return later this year.”