Flow is run by volunteers. These bios are as published on Flow’s previous website in 2021 and are being updated.
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David Loebenstein
Founder · Chair
David has 20 years in marketing and founded several companies in branded merchandise and technology. He has taught at The Grove Primary and chaired the School Governing Body at Kirstenhof Primary, and that love of education led him to found Flow. Sunbeam ECDC in Westlake grew from his drive and his use of his corporate networks to bring quality education to under-resourced communities. He holds a Higher Diploma in Education and a Marketing and Sales Diploma.
Declared interest: David chairs Flow and owns Hello Brand. Where Hello Brand delivers work for a Flow project, this is disclosed to partners up front.
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Jane Eleanor Worthington-Fitnum
Early childhood development
After a B Journ at Rhodes, Jane served in the SA Navy, leaving as a Lieutenant for a career in public relations with the Owen Wiggens Trust and Old Mutual. At HWB Communications she came to know the NGO sector. She was Ops Manager at New World Foundation in Lavender Hill for five years, and Educare Coordinator at the Philani Maternal, Child, Health and Nutrition Project in Khayelitsha for five years, where she saw first-hand how much early childhood development and teachers shape a community’s future.
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Martin Joseph Commerford
Architecture
Martin is an architect who has worked for commercial and retail clients and now practises independently, focusing on residential work and compact, economical housing built with environmentally conscious alternative technology. He believes creativity, design and collaboration can unlock many of the country’s challenges, and that Flow and the Westlake community can pool their skills to provide critical ECD facilities.
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Magdel Hougaard
Finance
Magdel is a Professional Accountant who has worked in accounting roles in South Africa and abroad since 2000. She holds a BCom from UNISA and qualified with the South African Institute for Professional Accountants in 2014, the year she started MHAS, an accounting and tax firm for small and medium businesses. A Kirstenhof local, she joined Flow in a consulting capacity after working with it as its accountant reminded her of the children on her doorstep.
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Busi Maho
Education
Busi has 25 years in education, as a teacher and as a consultant. She works for UCT as Training & Testing Manager on the WCED Systemic Project, and has consulted for the DG Murray Trust on the Collaboration Schools project. She is an SGB Strategist with the Bertha Centre’s Schools Inclusive Governance Network, served on The Grove Primary SGB for ten years (chair 2015–2018), chairs the SGB at Claremont High School, and has co-authored three educational textbooks.
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Rex Schelling
Business coaching
Rex has owned an accounting and financial advisory practice and built online property portals and internet start-ups such as 1Address. He now works as a business coach, QEC practitioner and Agile coach in fast-paced IT teams. With his wife he practises sustainable living and permaculture, and helped set up an urban farm in Cape Town. He believes real change starts from within.
