Context
Nine people met in Stellenbosch on 27 October 2026, convened by Johan Olivier of Ranyaka, to discuss his concept note “A Third Way of Investing in Places” (V1, 28 September 2026). The note names Stellenbosch as the first demonstration place, with Stanford and Genadendal/Greyton as the other two under consideration. Everyone present confirmed a desire to work toward place-based economies, and all have agreed to visit the Valley of Grace as a potential prototype.
Read the concept note: A Third Way of Investing in Places (V1, 28 September 2026, PDF).
The note proposes that the place becomes the integration platform. A thin shared professional and digital layer connects local actors to resources that already exist. Success is measured by the “R100 Resource Journey”: how much of each R100 committed reaches local actors, stays as local value, and makes the next R100 easier to use. The note tracks seven forms of local capital: human, organizational, economic, social, physical, knowledge and natural.
Attendees
| Name | Affiliation | Best URL | Why they matter to this conversation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Johan Olivier | Executive Director and co-founder, Ranyaka Community Transformation | Author of the concept note and owner of the model. A town planner who has already put Genadendal/Greyton on his shortlist of demonstration places. Ranyaka’s Proud of My Town and Fix Your Space programs are working delivery vehicles the valley could plug into. | |
| Qhamani Tshazi | Head: Research and Special Projects, Ranyaka | Ranyaka team page | Likely to carry the place intelligence and R100 measurement work in any demonstration. Her urban planning and environmental geography background suits a catchment-scale read of the valley. |
| Stephan May | Remgro Limited | The corporate capital seat at the table, from a Stellenbosch-based investment house. Tests whether a large investor would route money through a place platform in place of its own programs. | |
| Sinazo Nkwelo | Innovation Director and Portfolio Director for place-based development, DG Murray Trust | Runs a place-based funding portfolio across municipalities in four provinces and writes on collaborative governance between communities and municipalities. | |
| Dr Danie du Plessis | Senior Lecturer and Director of CRUISE, Geography and Environmental Studies, Stellenbosch University | Staff page | Specialist in spatial transformation, planning systems and spatial modeling. The natural academic partner for a shared place intelligence layer, and a route to postgraduate research in place-based community development. |
| Prof Sara Grobbelaar | Professor of Industrial Engineering, Stellenbosch University; research associate, CREST | Profile | Works on innovation for inclusive development and systems thinking. Brings rigor to the note’s “what needs to be tested” section and to its claims about technology lowering transaction costs. |
| Vanessa von der Heyde (not in person) | Director, The Sustainability Institute, Lynedoch | Leads a working place-based learning village with its own community school and bursary program. The SI also sits beside Vlottenburg/Spier, one of the Stellenbosch demonstration sites. | |
| Leigh Berg | Operations Manager, Grootbos Foundation, Gansbaai | Grootbos Foundation update | An Overberg peer running conservation-linked community programs close to Stanford, another candidate site. Brings the operational view of what it takes to keep place-based work running. |
| Laura Bergh | Formerly Chief Enabler, The Greenlight Office; currently on sabbatical | Spent years enabling a network of social change organizations, which is the convening work the note’s shared professional layer depends on. | |
| Michael Haupt | Independent community coordinator, Ward 2; convenor, Ward 2 Development Forum | Representing the Valley of Grace. W2DF and its five agreed priorities give Genadendal/Greyton an organized local partner, which the note says most places lack. |
Offers and needs
These are best guesses from public roles and the concept note. Each person should correct their own entry.
Johan Olivier, Ranyaka
Offers
- The Third Way model, including the R100 Resource Journey and the seven-capitals measurement frame
- Ranyaka’s delivery programs: Proud of My Town, Fix Your Space and the CoCreate Hub
- Funder relationships, including Nedbank through the proposed Stellenbosch Opportunity Network
- Community coordination platform currently in development
- Thirteen years of place-based practice in several provinces
Needs
- Demonstration places with an organized local partner
- Funders willing to test pooled, place-based investment
- Independent academic partners to test the cost and localization claims
- Evidence that the model travels beyond the early prototypes in Stellenbosch
Qhamani Tshazi, Ranyaka
Offers
- Research design, policy analysis and stakeholder engagement
- Planning and environmental geography skills for building place intelligence
Needs
- Access to local data and community knowledge in candidate places
- Workable methods for measuring natural capital and local value retention
- Research partners to share fieldwork
Stephan May, Remgro
Offers
- An insider’s perspective of how corporate social investment and enterprise development decisions get made
- A possible route to Remgro capital, or to procurement in its portfolio companies\
- A possible link to the Rupert Foundation, which is already active in the valley
- The Stellenbosch business network
Needs
- Investable, well-governed vehicles with clear reporting
- Evidence that place-based investment lowers total system cost and risk
- Credible local partners who can absorb investment
Sinazo Nkwelo, DG Murray Trust
Offers
- Philanthropic funding experience and possible DGMT support
- A portfolio of place-based work across several municipalities for comparison
- Expertise in collaborative governance between communities and municipalities
- Convening reach through DGMT’s Perspectives series and networks
Needs
- Places where community-municipal collaboration is working, to learn from
- Evidence that feeds DGMT’s place-based strategy
- Co-funders to share risk
Dr Danie du Plessis, Stellenbosch University
Offers
- Spatial analysis and modeling through CRUISE
- Postgraduate students and supervised research
- Expertise in planning systems and spatial transformation
- For the valley specifically, assistance in planning Water Retention as an investable asset
Needs
- Field sites with real data and willing communities
- Research questions with practical uptake
- Partners who can co-fund or co-host research
Prof Sara Grobbelaar, Stellenbosch University
Offers
- Frameworks for innovation systems and inclusive development
- Evaluation design and systems analysis
- Engineering students, research projects and the CREST network
Needs
- Live cases of inclusive innovation to study
- Data on whether shared technology lowers transaction costs in practice
- Partners willing to co-design and run tests
Vanessa von der Heyde, The Sustainability Institute
Vanessa wasn’t present in the meeting, but was on the invite email group. The following has been prepared based only on publicly available information.
Offers
- Long experience running Lynedoch as a place-based learning village
- A working model for a community school and bursary program
- Lessons on what sustains place-based work over many years
Needs
- Sustained funding for the school and bursaries, which rely on donations
- Peers to share learning with
- Ways to extend the Lynedoch model to other places
Leigh Berg, Grootbos Foundation
Offers
- Operational experience running community and conservation programs
- Knowledge of the Overberg and its organizations
- The Grootbos model linking hospitality, conservation and community
Needs
- An Overberg peer network
- Shared operational infrastructure of the kind the note proposes
- Funding pathways for Foundation programs
Laura Bergh
Offers
- Deep experience enabling a network of social change organizations
- Skill in convening and connecting people across organizations
- An independent voice, free of any institutional mandate
Needs
- Time and space during her sabbatical
- When she is ready, work that fits her values
- Low-pressure invitations to stay connected
Michael Haupt, Ward 2 Development Forum
Offers
- W2DF as an organized local partner, with a municipal counterpart in Theewaterskloof Economic Development
- Place intelligence already in progress: the W2DF register, the BioHubs directory and the BioConomy wiki
- A Valley of Grace investment case in development
- Decades of systems integration and change management experience
Needs
- Funding for coordination and for a demonstration in the valley
- Academic partners for a baseline of the valley’s capitals
- A model that honors the community protocol: proposals are developed with the community and never brought to it for endorsement after the fact
Where offers meet needs
- Johan needs a second demonstration place with an organized partner.
- Danie, Sara and Qhamani need field sites and data. The Valley of Grace needs a baseline of its seven capitals.
- Sinazo’s collaborative governance work and the W2DF relationship with the municipality can each inform the other.
- Vanessa’s school experience speaks directly to the Valley of Grace Learning Campus.
- Stephan needs evidence on cost and risk. A Stellenbosch and valley comparison using the R100 Resource Journey could supply it.