The Cape Wine Auction Trustees
At a time when South African education is in crisis and donor fatigue is on the rise, they went in search of a new giving model, one which focuses on maximum impact and long-term sustainability. Our partners have been strategically selected for the role that each plays within the holistic cycle of education. The Trust looked at education from Cradle to Career.
Partners are invited to collaborate and interact with each other, both in person at quarterly workshops, and online via a digital platform. This methodology is in direct contrast to the traditional one of working in “silos”, which has proven to be less than efficient in educational interventions.
The Trustees believe that this model of collaboration and beneficiary interaction will result in less duplication, increased economies of scale and better use of assets. The Trustees are committed to creating an innovative model of philanthropic support, which delivers a return on social investment by way of impact and measurable change.
Our amazing trustees
The Cape Wine Auction Trust Trustees are Paul Cluver (Chairman), Wendy Appelbaum, Ken Kinsey-Quick, Raymond Ndlovu, Dominique Enthoven and Niclas Kjellström-Matseke.
In terms of entrepreneurial brain muscle and all round business acumen, it’s a pretty formidable team.
Paul Cluver (Chairman)
Paul studied B.Sc. Horticulture and Economics at the University of Stellenbosch upon completion of which he started working in the family business, heading one of the fruit production units. He continued studying, first Senior Business Management at the Graduates School of Business and later Masters in Philosophy in Value and Policy Studies at the University of Stellenbosch, while working as production manager, financial manager and eventually general manager. As general manager Paul and his team have helped establish De Rust Estate as a multifaceted agricultural business being one of the leading apple and pear growers in South Africa, one of the country’s premium wine producers and one of the top Hereford studs while leading the way in sustainable farming and conservation. De Rust Estate is a BWI champion and has won the Nedbank Green Award for Best Practice as well as being a founding member of Thandi which is one of the first BEE farms in South Africa and is widely seen as one of the most successful projects in the industry. Thandi also became the first Fairtrade wine brand in the world.
Wendy Appelbaum
Wendy owns De Morgenzon wine estate outside Stellenbosch. She was a director of Liberty Investors Limited, Deputy Chairman of Women’s Investment Portfolio Limited (Wiphold) and Deputy Chairman of the Connection Group Limited. She was a founding director of The Tribune Trust and a founding director of Sphere Holdings Limited. Her philanthropic involvement includes her being a director of the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre, as well as a trustee of The Donald Gordon Foundation. Wendy is also a member of the Global Philanthropists’ Circle (GPC) and a director of the Southern African board of the Synergos Institute. She serves on Harvard University’s Presidential Advisory Board and is a member of Harvard University’s Women’s Leadership Board. She is a member of the International Women’s Forum (IWF) and of Women Moving Millions. She was honoured as one of the Leading Woman Entrepreneurs of the World in 2006 and received both the Forbes Woman Africa Business Woman of the Year and the Forbes Woman Africa Woman of the Year awards in 2015.
Dominique Enthoven
Trustee
Dominique Enthoven (née Botha) was born in 1971 and grew up on the farm Rietpan in the Viljoenskroon district of the Free State. She lives in Kylemore in the Boland with her husband and four children. She received a Masters Degree Masters in Applied Linguistics from Stellenbosch University in 1998 and a Masters Degree in Creative Writing from Wits University in 2012. Dominique writes poetry and novels in Afrikaans and English. Her novel False River and Valsrivier (Afrikaans version) were published in September 2013 by Umuzi Random House. The book was translated in French by Georges Lory and appeared as Rivière fantôme published by Actes Sud. She does translation work, interalia translated Francois Smith’s award winning book Kamphoer into English. She also contributes to various publications including The Economist magazine Intelligent Life, VISI magazine, British Airways In flight magazine, Rooi Rose, Rapport, and the Stellenbosch Literary Project. Dominique is a member of the Pirogue Collective and serves on the board of the Africa Centre and Yellowwoods Arts Trust, organisations that promote and support artistic endeavours in a broad range of fields. Her involvement ranges from active project management such as the Dancing in other Words Spier poetry festival to more generalised consulting.
Sir De Villiers Graaff
De Grendel Wine Estate
Sir De Villiers Graaff, the 4th Baronet [of Cape Town], is a South African businessman and the owner of De Grendel Wine Estate.
De Villiers obtained a degree in agriculture from the University of Stellenbosch in 1993. After graduating, he farmed table grapes in the Hex River Valley for 15 years, serving on various industry bodies including the SA Table Grape Industry Association, before joining his father at the De Grendel family estate in 2011. He succeeded as the 4th Graaff Baronet on January 24, 2015.
As the managing director of De Grendel Wines, Graaff has overseen significant growth in the winery’s production. His leadership at De Grendel led to the opening of an acclaimed restaurant on the estate in July 2012. Furthermore, he enticed cellar master Charles Hopkins into cider making, a natural progression from the family’s long involvement in apple farming, and Three Spades Cider was introduced in 2018 as a premium craft cider bearing the farm’s historic emblem of three spades.
The Graaff family motto is Justis Favet Creator (The Creator Favours Justice) and it underpins the De Grendel philosophy of a shared history, shared responsibility and shared future for all those who live and work on the farm. Responsibility to the environment and responsibility to the people of De Grendel work hand-in-hand, driving a vision to do business with integrity and respect, to continue building De Grendel as a sustainable enterprise at the centre of a successful community. Beyond his grape growing and wine making endeavours, Graaff has initiated various projects including a solar farm, land reform, affordable housing title for long serving farm workers, and the reintroduction of indigenous game like bontebok and eland. He is deeply committed to social responsibility, serving as the Chairman of the Waitrose Foundation which focuses on the upliftment and empowerment of farmworkers and their families.
Ken Kinsey-Quick
Blue Diamond Fund
Ken is a serial entrepreneur and formally founding Banhoek Chilli Oil in 2020, based in the Cape Winelands. Prior to Banhoek Chilli Oil, Ken spent nearly 30 years as a fund manager, predominantly in London, where he was a partner in Thames River Capital managing around $3bn in assets. Ken graduated from the University of Cape Town with a B.Comm degree and qualified for the CFA designation. He is a founding trustee of the Cape Wine Auction.
Niclas Kjellström-Matseke
Trustee
Niclas Kjellström-Matseke is a Founding Partner and Head of Europe & Africa for 17 Asset Management, which structures their business around the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Additionally, he is CEO of Infigo Properties and Chairman & Founder of Perennis Africa which invests in Southern African growth companies. Niclas is a recognized international business leader with a background as a CEO and international investor in Europe and Africa. He was the CEO of Novamedia Nordics which operates The Postcode Lottery and is the world’s third largest private donor, distributing US $11 billion. Under his leadership Novamedia became the industry’s most profitable company. A dedicated philanthropist, Niclas serves on the Board of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, is the Chairperson of the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, and is a Member of the Leadership Council of the UN’s Sustainable Developments Solutions Network. He has held numerous other board positions, including serving as Advisory Board Member of The Elders Foundation, which was set up by Nelson Mandela with the aim of getting global leaders to work together for peace and human rights, Board Member of SPER, the ethical council for all Swedish regulated gaming companies, was Honorary Advisory Board Member of Aung Sang Suu Kyi’s World Freedom Fund at Partnership for Change, and Board Member of Novamedia Norsk PoskodeLotteri. Niclas graduated with an MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics and Babson School in the U.S. He also has a BA in Economics & Social Science from Uppsala University.
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Raymond Ndlovu
Raymond is co-founder and non-executive partner of Black Elephant Vintners (“BEV”), an artisanal premium wine producer in Franschhoek. He also serves on the boards of several community service organisations, including firstmiracle.org, BEV’s social-impact initiative and Franschhoek Wine Valley Tourism Association.
He has garnered extensive corporate and entrepreneurial experience in various fields in the financial services industry, including investment banking, private equity, asset management and stockbroking, since 1988. Raymond was an investment executive at Remgro Limited and also served as a non-executive director on the boards of several investee companies, across various sectors, in the group. Before that, he co-founded and was CEO of institutional stockbroking firm Noah Financial Innovation for ten years until July 2011.
Raymond is currently the group CEO of telecommunications infrastructure holding company Community Investment Ventures Holdings (“CIVH”).
He holds a B. Business Studies (Honours) from the University of Zimbabwe and is a fellow of African Leadership Initiative and Aspen Global Leadership Network.