Wendy was born in Old Benoni Location and is the second in a family of four. When she was 8 years old the community was forcibly removed to Daveyton and at the age of 11 went to live in Cradock where she completed her junior high school. Her high school was at Healdtown and she studied social sciences at Fort Hare from 1976 – 1977. She left Fort Hare towards the end of 1977 to study at the University of Lesotho where she graduated in 1981 with a Bachelor of Commerce. She found the market completely unprepared for a black female commerce graduate. After looking for a job for almost a year, she eventually found employment as a marketing assistant to develop the black market for a cosmetic company. Her challenging entry into the job market has enabled Wendy to develop very strong leadership and pioneering qualities which have set her apart from many of her peers. Over the years, Wendy has consistently been the first to break through boundaries of any kind.
Wendy spent ten years in various senior marketing management positions in the cosmetics and the automotive industries. She had an opportunity to work in Germany and the USA for BMW before she left to pursue her own business interests in 1992, when she founded Bridging the Gap, a Human Capital Development and Management Consulting Practise. Bridging the Gap established itself in the marketplace for its experiential approach to the design of Human Resources solutions and intervention, particularly in Recruitment services and the Development of employees, inspired by her own experiences as an employee of a large corporation. She has since sold the company.
In 1994 when South Africa made a transition into a new democracy, Wendy pioneered the founding of the first investment company to be owned by women, called Women Investment Portfolio Holdings (WIPHOLD). This initiative revolutionarised the participation of women in the economy. WIPHOLD listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, making it the first women owned company on the Exchange.
In 1997 Wendy was nominated by the World Economic Forum in Geneva as a Global Leader for Tomorrow, by the Osaka Junior Chamber in Japan as the Outstanding Young Person and by the Unisa Business School for Leadership in Practise. Wendy is a member of the Consultative Network of the Helsinki Process on Globalisation and Democracy which is chaired by Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Finland and Tanzania. She is also a member of the Club of Rome in Europe and has recently been appointed Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg. In August 2006 she was honoured as a Woman of Worth at the Jewish Achievers Awards in South Africa.
Wendy has been a non-executive director of various companies since the age of 36 and is currently on the board of the Johannesburg Securities Exchange and BMW SA. She is also the non-executive chairman of the Industrial Development Corporation, Women Private Equity Fund the International Marketing Council to align and leverage South Africa’s marketing efforts in Trade, Tourism and Inward investments. Wendy was invited in 2003 to become an international trustee for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award International Foundation for young people.
She was featured in the Sunday Times in January 1999 as one of South Africa’s most powerful women. In April 1999 she was honoured in Monaco as one of 50 Leading women Entrepreneurs of the World for 1999 by the STAR group in Los Angeles. In January 2000 she was featured as a likely female President candidate for 2009. in 2004 she was featured in the Financial Mail as the most influential leader and business woman among her peers. Luhabe’s unique business savvy, courage, vision and experience have been invaluable assets that have introduced her to the corridors of power at a young age. Wendy was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Commerce by Fort Hare University, Africa’s most respected institution of higher learning which has produced many of Africa’s world renowned leaders including Mr Mandela. In December 2006 she was awarded another honorary doctorate in Commerce by the Stellenbosch University.
Over the past ten years she has contributed a chapter in a book published in the USA called “Working Together: Producing Synergy by Honoring Diversity”, and one published in South Africa called “Women Creating the Future”. She has been invited to appear in the Ninth Edition of the International Directory of Distinguished Leadership for Outstanding Contributors to Contemporary Society published in the USA. She published her first book in August 2002 called DEFINING MOMENTS on the experiences of black executives in South Africa’s workplace over 30 years. She is involved with the Resilience Company and offer resilience training in organisations.
Wendy has travelled extensively and reads a lot to enhance her understanding of the world. Books that have influenced her views are The Princessa, Celestine Prophecy, Conversations with God, Course in Miracles and Synchronicity among others. She plays golf occasionally and is learning to play a harp.
She has been invited on various high level speaking engagements to the UK, France, Sweden, South America, USA, Indonesia, Japan and Africa.
In February 2003 she launched a R120m Venture Capital Fund for women owned enterprises, a first fund of this nature for South Africa.
To mark 10 years of democracy and the remarkable achievements by South African women Wendy pioneered another first a Women Development Fund which raised R2.5million within a week of it’s launch. The fund will be used for development of less fortunate women by challenging all working South African women to contribute via a stop order of R50 per month, less or more depending on one’s resources to enable South African women to collectively uplift less fortunate South African women. The fund also invites men to be involved if so inspired.
Wendy regards herself as a catalyst for transformation through her diverse activities which range from speaking engagements, human potential development, writing, the meaningful participation of women in the economic landscape of South Africa and her role as a non-executive director and chairman of diverse industries.
As first lady of the Gauteng Province she intends to accelerate the participation of women in the economic landscape of Gauteng, as well as to work with youth related initiatives to build bridges between generations, especially to nurture the leadership development of younger or less experienced women.
