Celebrating Jewish Achievers

Those who punch above their weight honoured at Investec Jewish Achiever Awards

The Investec Jewish Achiever Awards on 2 November 2025 isn’t just another gala event, it’s so much more. It’s about our community being proud and celebrating what we achieve.

It’s an occasion when we celebrate our disproportionate contribution to South Africa as a community. We honour the many who have stood head and shoulders above the rest, often against great odds.

It’s at the Investec Jewish Achiever Awards that we recognise that this tiny community on the southern tip of Africa punches way above its weight. In fact, if you look around you in this country, there are few industries and professions where Jews don’t hold the highest-level positions. And they do it for no other reason than an intrinsic belief in ensuring that we give our children the best education we can, and if we’re going to do something, we do it to the best of our ability. There are no half measures in our community.

What with the rising antisemitism, our community cannot hide under a bushel, hoping that people won’t notice us. We must stand up and be proud because of what we achieve as individuals and as a community.

We have nothing to be ashamed of, and everything to be proud of. The Jewish Achiever Awards over the years have honoured hallowed names like Donny Gordon; Natie Kirsh; Sol Kerzner; Helen Suzman; Phillip Tobias; Brian Joffe; Steven Koseff; Adrian Gore; Johnny Clegg; and so many more.

The Investec Jewish Achiever Awards is the way we acknowledge and delight in the extraordinary, the profound, and the vision of so many members of our community in the arts, the sciences, sport, business, entrepreneurship, community service, leadership, and humanitarian endeavours.

It’s the most awe-inspiring event because it’s a time when we see the extent of the work the community does in our country.

While we do see decay on our streets and must acknowledge the corruption in our country’s leadership, we don’t define ourselves by that. We define ourselves by the creative and entrepreneurial genius and determination that pulses through the veins of our community.

We will not be victims. We are the builders, the innovators, the healers, and the creatives. We are the backbone of this country, despite our small numbers.

Our ancestors landed here mostly as penniless refugees fleeing persecution and certain death in Europe. It’s here that the pro-Nazi establishment demonstrated at the docks of Cape Town and tried to prevent our arrival in this country, because we weren’t “European”.

It was here that our community fought for freedom, justice, and democracy, established farms, built businesses, fed the poor, healed the sick, and built banks, insurance companies, retail empires, factories, and a society of which we should be proud.

Our community is more vibrant than ever, and our contribution to building South Africa remains unwavering.

In the Investec Jewish Achiever Awards, we focus not just on what we have built, but on the promise of what still lies before us.

To book a table or seats, go to: https://bit.ly/ja25book