Leanne Emery-Hunter - COO of the Youth Employment Service (YES)
Leanne is a business leader who excels in leading innovative, challenging and impact-
driven organisations. She is the Chief Operating Officer at the Youth Employment Service (YES), a business-driven South African non-profit organisation that works with the private sector to tackle the youth unemployment crisis. In 5 years, YES has empowered businesses to place more than 140,200 young people into jobs and injected over R7.2 billion back into the economy through youth salaries, with no government funding.
Leanne wants to be a part of building a better future for all Africans and has always been passionate about youth empowerment (particularly for young women) and education. She considers herself
fortunate to work in an organisation which challenges her as a leader daily, but also provides her with the opportunity to build things from the ground up and feeds into her purpose.
Leanne was a finalist in the TransUnion Rising Star Awards 2022, in the category of Service: Public & Private. She holds an MBA with distinction, from the Gordon Institute of Business Science.