EDUCATION

  • Wits Teachers’ Training College – B.Com

  • Montessori Education – 2 diplomas – American Montessori Association

  • Dr Thomas Gordon – Effective Parenting | Effective Leadership Training

  • Purchasing and Supply Chain Management – Newport/Janus University

  • International Purchasing Management – Newport/Janus University

  • Carbon Auditing and Certification – Training with Green Leaf

  • Green Interiors Design and Decor  - Green Building Council South Africa

  • Green Homes – Training with Green Building Council South Africa

  • NCPC (National Cleaner Production Centre) course at CSIR via UNEP (UN Environmental Programme)

  • UN Environmental Programme - Eco Labelling Training

  • Climate Reality Leadership Corps Training with Ex US Vice President, Al Gore

TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY – RELEVANT BACKGROUND

My passion for travel to 52 countries, especially to remote and unspoiled regions in my personal capacity, but also high end destinations through my work, stands me in the unique position to have real points of reference and benchmarks of the full range of good and bad tourism practices. 

LIVED AND WORKED IN

  • London for 4 years

  • Canada for 2 years

  • United States for 5 years

  • South Africa for the rest

COUNTRIES VISITED (Experience for work in Tourism)

Overland and Backpackers:

  • Tibet from Kathmandu overland to Lhasa

  • Amazon from Iquitos by dugout to remote tribe in Peru

  • Alaska from Kodiak by float plane to camp on uninhabited island

Train, bus or self-drive:

  • All of West Europe

  • Azerbaijan

  • All of the United Kingdom

  • East Africa by train to Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya

  • West Africa: Ghana for keynote to Hotel Investment Convention

  • North Africa: Egypt and Morocco

  • America: 32 States

  • Canada: Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, Yukon

  • South America: Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Argentina

  • Australia

  • Asia: China, India, Mongolia, Hong Kong and Nepal

  • Seychelles

ASSOCIATIONS

  • PSASA – Professional Speakers Association South Africa

  • AFRICAN CLIMATE REALITY PROJECT – Certified Leader

  • GBCSA – Green Building Council South Africa

  • FEDHASA – Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa

  • IMVELO – Imvelo Responsible Tourism Awards (Chief Judge)

  • FTT – Fair Trade in Tourism, South Africa

  • EGF – Event Greening Forum

  • EXSA – Exhibition and Event Association of South Africa

  • MICE Academy

  • ENVIROPAEDIA  ECO LOGIC

  • SAEE – South African Association for Energy Efficiency

  • GSTC – Global Sustainable Tourism Council

  • ACB – African Centre for Biodiversity

  • GREENPEACE South Africa

  • FOSSIL FREE SA

  • TBCSA – Tourism Business Council of South Africa

  • GGT – Global Green Tag Certification

  • Alive2Green

  • Slow Food International and South Africa

 

SHORT BIO FOR EVENT PROGRAMMES

Change agent, tireless activist, thought leader and multiple award winner, Lorraine Jenks is a specialist in climate change, sustainability, greening and ethical food.  As a professional speaker, Lorraine advocates responsible management practices for public and private sectors using her passion, personality and humour to inspire change.

Her journey began in California in the 1970s, working with the infant EPA; then back home, she was Group Contracts and Procurement Manager for Africa’s largest hotel chain for 15 years. She went solo and trained under the UNEP’s Eco-Labelling Project, NCPC’s Clean Production Programme at the CSIR, the Green Building Council’s Interior Design and Décor, Green Leaf Carbon Auditing and recently with Al Gore as an accredited Climate Reality Leader.  Winner of 13 awards with top honours for her six Green Home and Eco Hotel projects and an intrepid traveller to 52 countries - with her indomitable team, she manages two leading online directories (www.hotelstuff.co.za for all products and www.greenstuff.co.za for eco-friendly products), consults and runs workshops throughout South Africa and as far afield as Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria.

AWARDS

100 TOP WOMEN in Supply Chain in Africa 2021 - Specialist in Sustainable, Circular and Regenerative Production, Procurement and Supply Chain Management

AEE Association of Energy Engineers – Atlanta USA - 2020 - Sub-Saharan African Region Energy Innovator of the Year Award

WOMAN OF STATURE – 2020 - Lifetime Achievement Award

SAEEC South African Energy Efficiency Confederation 2019 - Energy Innovator of the year, South Africa

MICE ACADEMY – (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) 2019 - Lifetime Achievement Award. Award for projects, exhibitions, workshops, training, directories and consulting in all aspects of MICE and related industries.

AFRICA WOMAN LEADER AWARD - 2019 - An international movement (CMO Asia) where leaders are honoured for their work and short-listed for the final ceremony; the HRD Congress and World Women Leadership Congress in Mumbai with 1,870 professionals in attendance from 133 countries

CAPE TOWN EXPERIENCES MAGAZINE AWARDS – Greenest Business 2019 - Our “www.Greenstuff.co.za” online directory of eco-friendly products was voted the greenest business.  Greenstuss lists eco-friendly products from its sister website “www.Hotelstuff.co.za”. The websites get 33,000 page views a month.

HOTEL SHOW AFRICA – Element of Enviropoedia Gold Award 2017. Exhibition project - four hotel rooms furnished with only green or eco-friendly items.  Bedroom, lounge, bathroom and patio area.  Displaying items from our Hotelstuff and Greenstuff directories See the video here.

EXSA – GREENEST EXHIBITION STAND – 2015 - Top award for greenest stand in SA for our Greenstuff Eco Guest Suite at Inspire Design and Décor last year. 80 sq.m accommodation built and furnished with only eco-friendly items and incorporating efficient energy, water and waste management systems.

WOMEN IN QUALITY – Environmental Quality Award 2015

MEETINGS AFRICA – Top Forty Women in MICE Industry 2014

INSPIRE DESIGN & DECOR EXPO – Bronze Award for fully furnished Greenstuff Eco Guest Suite Project. 2014.  See video here. 

ESKOM - ETA AWARD 2013 – Special Award Winner for creating Energy Efficiency Awareness throughout South Africa.

SA ENERGY EFFICIENCY - (SAEE) – Energy Patron of the Year 2013. Second place.

ENVIROPOEDIA ECOLOGIC AWARDS - Eco Warrior

2013 Certificate of Recommendation for workshops, website, articles, exhibitions.

2014 Certificate of Merit.

2015 Certificate of Merit.

2017 Eco Warrior Gold Award

2019 Certificate of Merit

IMVELO RESPONSIBLE TOURISM = FEDHASA Chairman’s Award 2011 - For “outstanding work towards improving Responsible Tourism, Sustainable Hospitality and Green Procurement practices in South Africa and for twenty years’ of research and subtle activism!” 

Acted as Chief Judge for 2013 and 2014 award entries for Dept. Tourism and SA Tourism Grading Council.

 

Our shareholders, customers and children are watching us.  The future is in our hands.  Only when people understand the “Why” will they bother about the “What” and finally care about the “How” to make better choices.