Inscape CEO Helen Bührs honoured with C12 Ubuntu Culture Hero Award

Helen Bührs, CEO at Inscape

The award recognises leaders who embody the principle: “I am because you are,” and who demonstrate spiritually grounded, operationally courageous, relationally generous, and deeply restorative people-centred leadership. Recipients are selected for cultivating dignity across all levels of their organisations and measuring success not only in financial terms but in relationships restored and opportunities created.

The selection committee commended Bührs for her bold and restorative approach to leadership – shifting organisational paradigms from extraction to stewardship, and building systems and cultures that emphasise inclusion, purpose, accountability, and genuine human flourishing.

A leadership philosophy for a future-facing sector

In the C12 community, leadership is defined not by position but by stewardship, the responsibility to use influence for the good of others. Bührs’ leadership at Inscape reflects this conviction in both strategy and culture.

“Fear cannot be our strategy,” she says. “Fear shrinks innovation, but conviction expands it. My work at Inscape is about building an institution that restores, includes, and uplifts, because every person matters.”

Her message echoes her recent SAPHE 2025 address, where she called on private higher education to lead with clarity rather than fear of disruption. For Bührs, restoration is core to a future-ready institution: "A future-ready institution prepares future-ready graduates not by helping them survive disruption, but by empowering them to restore what disruption damages." This approach positions Inscape as a sector-shaping institution committed to driving national renewal through identity formation, dignity restoration, and socially responsive education.

Building a redemptive institution: Inscape’s multi-year transformation

Inscape’s adoption of the redemptive business model has reshaped the institution across leadership, governance, programme design, operations, and partnerships. This transformation moves beyond ethical practice into a model intentionally designed for shared value and community impact.

Key commitments include:

• A Living Curriculum focused on identity, purpose, and societal contribution.

• Embedded readiness subjects, SDGs, circular-design principles, and community engagement across all programmes.

• A focus on developing graduates equipped for work, life, challenges, and community.

• Scholarship investment: R26m invested over the past decade, supporting 234 individuals toward accessible higher education.

• Redemptive Impact Dashboards in development, integrating cultural, social, environmental, financial, and community metrics to make impact visible and measurable.

• Leadership practices shifting toward stewardship, mentorship, service, and responsibility, shaping an institution where dignity and inclusion form the foundation of operational excellence.

Bührs reflects on the award: “This award belongs to every person at Inscape who has chosen courage over fear, service over self-protection, and hope over scarcity. We are building an institution where identity is formed, dignity is restored, and purpose is lived out.”

A redemptive future for the sector

The Ubuntu Culture Hero Award affirms Inscape’s leadership in reimagining private higher education not only as a pathway to employment but as a catalyst for restoration, innovation, and nation-building.

Through its redemptive model, Living Curriculum, ecosystem development, community partnerships, and design-led approach, Inscape is equipping graduates to become agents of renewal in South Africa and beyond.