Meet The Team
Our team is inspired by the daily opportunity to support South Africa’s moms to have healthy & happy pregnancies and to help ensure every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential and grow great.
Leadership Team
Dr Edzani Mphaphuli
Executive Director of the Grow Great Campaign
Dr Edzani Mphaphuli is the Executive Director of the Grow Great Campaign, where she is dedicated to achieving healthcare equity and social justice.
She obtained her medical degree and Master of Public Health (MPH) from the University of Cape Town’s Medical School and a Diploma in HIV management. With a background in health systems strengthening and reforms, she has collaborated with various management teams to optimise healthcare service delivery.
Prior to joining Grow Great, Dr Mphaphuli served as the National Director: Health Systems for the KeReady mobile health outreach project, focusing on providing primary healthcare services to young people in informal settlements. She also played a crucial role as the National Lead Facilitator: Provincial Support for COVID-19 vaccine roll-out, supporting the National Department of Health.
During her time as a Public Health Medicine Registrar at the University of Pretoria, Dr Mphaphuli gained extensive experience and exposure to all health system levels through rotations at various institutions. She also served as a Project Team Lead and senior clinical advisor at Pulse Health Solutions, where she implemented the Advanced Clinical Care Programme for complicated HIV and drug-resistant TB in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni.
Thabang Mametse
Programme Lead
Thabang is a qualified social worker and has 18 years of experience working in the development sector, including leadership posts in Grassroot Soccer and the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. She is a mother of two and values the support and wisdom she received from the women around her during her pregnancies. She believes that every pregnancy experience is different but that that all mothers’ primary intention is the same: to do the best for her children.
Ruth Mathys
Research, Development & Quality Assurance Specialist
Ruth is an Occupational Therapist with a Master’s Degree in Public Health. She is also a mother of two, and places great importance on the network of mothers and pregnant women around her for support, information, and friendship. She finds joy spending time with her children and seeing the world through their eyes. Her hope is to give her children a strong sense of empathy, self-worth and self-respect because from that comes resilience and respect for others.
Dr Kopano Matlwa Mabaso
Executive Director: Grow Great Campaign
Dr Kopano Matlwa Mabaso is the Executive Director of the Grow Great Campaign, the parent company of Flourish. Kopano is a medical doctor by training and an alumnus of the University of Oxford where she gained both her Masters in Global Health Science and DPhil (PhD) in Population Health. Kopano is a proud mom of three and enjoys spending her days helping to ensure South Africa is a country where every family can flourish and children are supported to grow great.
Sinikiwe Mqadi
Head of Coaching
Sinikiwe is a trained journalist, who has dedicated her career to working in community upliftment programmes, including the Family Maths project in rural KZN and the youth movement Activate! She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Public Health and wants to use her degree to help South Africa grow to greatness and to flourish. Sinikiwe is a mother and has learnt from the Flourish family about the different shades of beauty that come with bringing life to this world. She embraces it all and knows that she is not alone.
Senior Coaches
Flourish senior coaches train and support Flourish hosts to run high quality mom & baby groups across the country.
From left: Phakama Ndamase, Mmakgomo Tshetlo, Zandile Dangwana, Valerie Mthandeki
Franchisee Coaches
Experienced hosts are provided the opportunity to be peer coaches for their fellow hosts.
From left: Shandre Wiliams (City of Cape Town), Maggie Mogale (Limpopo), Celeste Williams (Cape Winelands) and Zinhle Ngwenya (Mpumalanga)
Contact Centre Team
The Contact Centre responds to all queries about Flourish and connects mothers to classes.
