Two years ago, Komala Pillay pressed pause on a very successful career in engineering to join the internationally acclaimed non-profit organisation Citizen Leader Lab (formerly Symphonia for South Africa) as its CEO. Her leap of faith has gone on to inspire her team and the communities Citizen Leader Lab engages with.
Back in 2018 Pillay spent a year as a participant on Citizen Leader Lab’s flagship leadership development programme, Partners for Possibility (PfP). The programme partners school principals of under resourced schools with leaders from other environments and Komala signed up to be just such a learning partner to a principal. On the programme, Pillay developed a deeper understanding for the need for Citizen Leader Lab’s work, and a strengthened belief that strong local leadership and cross-sector collaboration must be prioritised in order to tackle the seemingly insurmountable challenges our country faces.
Citizen Leader Lab was established in 2008 to develop conscious leadership that builds social cohesion, uplifts communities, and works towards achieving a just society. Its mission is to develop strong citizen leaders who can catalyse positive change in their institutions, communities, and broader society. Through Partners for Possibility, more than 1,700 public school principals have had the benefit of a world-class leadership development programme and support from a business leader, and over a million children in South Africa have had their access to quality education significantly improve.
Part of Pillay’s vision for Citizen Leader Lab is to contribute to the reduction of the entrenched wealth inequality in South Africa, a factor that she describes as ‘’fatal’’ to the progression of South African society. ‘’In South Africa, about 45% of our workforce are without jobs, with 11% of that workforce having stopped looking. Among the youth between the ages of 15 and 24, 63,9% are unemployed, while 42,1% of youth between the ages of 24 and 35 don’t have jobs. That’s an estimated 8 million people on the periphery of our society, with no possibility to participate because they can’t find a way to do so,’’ says Pillay.
The first step to addressing inequality, she underscores, is to acknowledge and utilise the great power our nation holds as a collective. ‘’We should remember the strength and fortitude we have as a nation. Many predicted civil war and massive bloodshed in 1994. This did not happen. South Africans came together and worked through a difficult time to emerge as the Rainbow Nation, an example of the best of humanity to the entire world. We have this opportunity again, to prove the naysayers wrong, and remind the world of what we can achieve as a country. What is required is for us to come together as fellow citizens, to work together across typical socially and racial divides.”
Pillay’s perspective is refreshing as it invites ordinary people to become the citizen leaders our country sorely needs: “What if we all work together to create innovative ways to deal with our seemingly intractable issues?”
And this is indeed an exciting vision. What if more engineers use their unique skills to improve basic education? Or accountants health care? Or lawyers local government? The possibilities are endless. Would this approach produce something fresh and new that those closest to the problem might have missed? Komala, and her team at Citizen Leader Lab, prove that the answer to that question is an emphatic yes.
While not everyone is willing, able or even needed to leave a successful professional career to head up an NGO, Pillay highlights an important reality. South Africa urgently needs each of us to show up with what we have in our hands and add it to the pot.
She took a decision to contribute what she has – a superb intellect, a unique way of viewing problems, intuitive leadership skills and a passion for education – to play her part in creating what Citizen Leader Lab refers to as #TheFutureWeWant, for the children of our country and for South Africa at large.
Now, what will you do, with your unique skills, talents and gifts, to realise #TheFutureWeWant for South Africa?
For further information please visit www.citizenleaderlab.org
