Who We Are
Founding
ethos.
To help create a better life for all in the Paarl-Franschhoek Valley by strategically investing the Foundation’s resources to demonstrate through action how we can help transform lives and restore the future.
Our
mission.
The Val de Vie Foundation is dedicated to fostering sustainable educational development, entrepreneurship programmes and community advancement in the Paarl-Franschhoek Valley.
The Team
Martin Venter
Founder
Val de Vie Estate and Val de Vie Foundation Founder, Martin Venter, is a successful property developer with a vision to create wealth for all. That vision has resulted in a world class, award winning wellness estate that has provided an amazing return on investment for its homeowners. Yet, his passion is to uplift and develop all who live in the Paarl-Franschhoek Valley, providing new employment on the estate and founding the Val de Vie Foundation. Martin’s company has generously provided the financial foundation to kick start the Foundation and he welcomes all homeowners and stakeholders to join him on this road to a more perfect Valley.
Nationbuilder, an organisation committed to good giving, has called the Val de Vie Foundation a trail blazing model which more and more estates should follow.
Sarel Rossouw
Trustee
Financial Director and a key member of the Val de Vie Management team, Sarel is also the backbone of the Val de Vie Foundation. He provides the skillset in finance to ensure transparent and accountable reporting and corporate governance, a critical component of a flourishing Foundation. He is also a Val de Vie homeowner and a dedicated family man whose passion is to build communities and translate Martin’s vision both on the estate and in the running of the Foundation.
Clifford van der Venter
Trustee
John Wilkinson
Trustee
Chartered Accountant (S.A.) and Certified Information Systems Auditor. He has worked in IT Risk Assurance and Consulting for more than 30 years, 22.5 years of which as a Partner / Director in the Risk Assurance practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Cape Town. During his time at PwC, John was responsible for the information systems components of the statutory audits of a number of PwC’s JSE listed clients in the Retail and Financial Services industries.
John retired from PwC at the end of June 2020 to spend more time with his family, to travel and to fully live out his passion for photography. John joined the Val de Vie HOA Board of Trustees at the beginning of 2021 and is also a member of the Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) sub-committee.
John has been married to his wife Catherine for thirty years and they have two children, a daughter and a son. They have lived in Val de Vie for 9 years.
Ryk Neethling
Trustee
Ryk Neethling / Marketing Director and Shareholder of the Val de Vie Group of Companies
Ryk Neethling has played an instrumental role since his appointment in 2009 as the Marketing Director & Shareholder of the Val de Vie Group of Companies. Ryk’s business career started while he spent time in the real estate industry in the USA, assisting in the development, management and sales of various commercial properties in Arizona and California. This experience equipped him in establishing Cape Winelands Properties, the official on-site property agency for Val de Vie Estate, with his business partners. His strategic approach to implementing brand and marketing plans is evident in the numerous successfully sold-out developments of the Val de Vie Group of Companies. Under Ryk’s leadership, theVal de Vie brand has internationally been positioned as pioneering in the world of luxury property development. Ryk holds a BA degree in Psychology and Business from the University of Arizona. He is a Laureus Sport for Good Foundation Ambassador, founder of Learn to Swim Academies, three-time World Champion and an Olympic Gold Medalist.
Jan Botha
Trustee
As the co-owner and Business Development Director of Online Intelligence, an international company, he established and expanded over the past 20 years to have a client base in 39 countries worldwide. He served on the Board of Silver Lakes Golf Estate for five years, responsible for security. Under his leadership, Silver Lakes Golf Estate was voted “Safest Estate in South Africa” for three consecutive years.
Jan wholeheartedly supports the Super Estate vision and believes that best-in-class security is the only standard to protect all residents and the Estate’s property and investment values. He served on the Security Sub-committee for two years. Jan was born and educated in Pretoria, obtaining a BA Honours degree in Social Science from the University of Pretoria in 1990, specialising in Criminology. He obtained further qualifications in Security Management, Intelligence and Analysis. He worked within the National Intelligence Service, the Secret Service and the Scorpions, where he headed various departments and travelled overseas extensively.
Jan and his family moved to Val de Vie Estate in December 2016. Jan has been married for twenty years and lives on the Estate with his wife and two children, a daughter aged 17 and a son aged 15. He is a Val de Vie Polo Club member and an avid equestrian enthusiast.
Jonathan Bloom
Trustee
Dr Jonathan Bloom holds a PhD in Corporate Finance from Stellenbosch University and, until 2013, was a Professor of Corporate Finance specialising in Real Estate Investment and Financing at the same institution. He published various national and international articles in fields such as Business, Economics and Strategy, Corporate Financial Management and Business Assessment, Artificial Intelligence and Knowledge Mining for business and finance.
He has been involved in the private sector for 22 years. He has consulted as a business advisor to various JSElisted companies and for multiple clients and real estate developers in Southern Africa, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific. In conjunction with National Treasury, he assists various district and local municipalities with establishing public-private partnerships and preparing
real estate development and spatial planning strategies.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) used his services in Namibia for development projects. Jonathan has undertaken various implementation assignments in diverse sectors and industries such as Transport, Infrastructure, Tourism and Hospitality, Financial Services, Healthcare, and Retail and Entertainment. Jonathan is also a non-executive director
of companies.
He is leading the Due Diligence process, a critical part of the Amalgamation of Val de Vie I and II HOAs. Jonathan and his wife, Marinda, moved to Val de Vie Estate in 2018, and he has served as a homeowner-elected trustee ever since.
Marli van Schalkwyk
Manager
Marli is a consummate media and marketing professional, who adds her magic to the Val de Vie Foundation’s team as its Manager. With a career background as head of marketing for local and international brands, including the management of numerous NPO programmes for these organisations, Marli is responsible for the communications and awareness of the Val de Vie Foundation’s generous work.
Marli is able to draw on her experience as the Marketing Manager of the award-winning Val de Vie Estate, where she has also lived since 2017. She is immensely proud of the positive difference that Val de Vie Estate, through the Val de Vie Foundation, makes in the lives of others.
Lorraine Hadfield
Advisor
Lorraine and her husband Tim returned to South Africa in 2014, after 12 years in the USA. Their research brought them to Val de Vie Estate, which they characterise as ’their slice of Heaven’. Lorraine held SVP and President roles in The Nielsen Company and Ipsos in New York City. She also brings extensive marketing knowledge from her time as Marketing Director of South African based organisations like Pillsbury, Enterprise Foods and Tastic Rice. She views this next stage of her life as the best chapter yet, with her greatest wish to make a meaningful difference in the lives of the disadvantaged communities in the Valley.
