About AHP

Saul Kornik
Director

“Health for Africa, powered by people”

As the head of AHP, Saul's role is to provide leadership to the organisation byproviding a vehicle through which the AHP team and partners can contribute to improving healthcare in Africa. This entails providing a common vision and a supported mission. He is responsible for defining AHP's strategic direction with stakeholders, coordinating the draft of our operational plan to meet these strategic goals and overseeing implementation in all areas of the organisation. Implementation often involves identifying key issues and then finding the most efficient manner to effectively  manner to resolve them.

Kate Thiers
Operations manager

“Access to good healthcare in any society is critical and yet always a challenge. I'm very excited to be working with AHP in South Africa where I can contribute to a solution.” 

Kate is the operations manager at AHP and ensures that everything supporting AHP's recruitment operations runs smoothly. This includes our IT systems, monitoring and evaluation activities, HR administration, finance, office administration, and communications and marketing strategies. Kate is originally from Philadelphia in the US and moved to South Africa from London, where she worked for several years as a project manager in the healthcare sector. Kate has an MBA from Oxford University and an undergraduate degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She is certified as a project management professional in the US and as a PRINCE2 Practitioner in the UK.

Xoliswa Lukhalo
Relationship manager

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Xoliswa is a recruitment manager at AHP, currently in her 3rd year with the organisation where she responsible for Three projects. Xoliswa qualified with the South African Institute of Management, majoring in business management, marketing and human resources. She has 12 years of private and public sector recruitment/HR experience. She acquired her knowledge from different industries i.e private banking, engineering, telecommunication, public sector & the recruitment sector. Her current role at AHP is very close to her heart, as this project touches so many lives and is an opportunity to make a difference to those who need it most.

Donette Nel
Local HRH support manager

“If you can dream it, you can do it” 

Donette, with her incredibly strong background in all things South African healthcare, joins AHP to manage the  rapidly expanding local recruitment work, in partnership with Aurum and SEAD, as funded through a recent grant from CDC. Before AHP, Donette worked for BroadReach Healthcare where she was the HR Manager and DOH HR and Site Recruitment Manager. Her extensive experience and passion for her new role will help AHP to really crack local recruitment and change the face of rural health.

Shannon Sykes
Recruitment manager

"To light one candle is better than to curse the darkness."

Shannon has a corporate background in security risk consulting and human resources. She joins AHP as the Regional Recruitment Manager responsible for KZN, Mpumalanga and the Cape. After nearly 14 years of living and working abroad Shannon is thrilled to be back in her native South Africa, in a position where she can support a phenomenal team in changing lives.

Bryan Carpenter
Retention Manager

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter"

Bryan leads the retention team in AHP, encompassing the the Orientation Programme and the Rural Doctors Support Programme. Originating from England, Bryan has experience of both the UK and South African health system. His professional background is in HR management and health general management, having worked as a Director of human resources in various UK health Trusts and as the CEO of a large tertiary care hospital in South Africa. He has also worked as a management consultant in many other countries throughout Africa and prior to joining AHP he worked as a consultant with the Centre for Rural Health, part of the University of KZN.

Kedumetse Mvula
Doctor support programme manager

"Strive to achieve your goals with passion, hunger and drive"

Kedumetse manages the doctor support programme which aims to improve retention of doctors in remote public sector hospitals. She has a professional background in radiography, management of TB & HIV programmes and implementation of health systems - and has worked in private, public and NGO health sectors. Prior to AHP She was an operations systems manager at Ndlovu Care Group.

Kate Muwoki
Research officer

"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style."

Kate is the new Research Officer at AHP and is excited about positively contributing to the way strategic information on human resources in health is monitored in South Africa. She has a Masters in International Development and experience in the UK and Africa where she worked as an HIV Practitioner in London and a Policy Consultant in Zambia. In South Africa, Kate recently conducted a research study on xenophobia and access to justice in the Eastern Cape and is most happy in her professional and personal life when she is helping to improve the lives of others.

Jeanette Strydom
Senior communications officer

"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."

Jeanette is the senior ommunications officer for AHP, and works closely with the PR and media officer as well as the marketing and events coordinator to make up all of AHP's marketing. This includes online, social media, as well as print and other traditional types of media the world over.
Jeanette recently submitted her Labour Law Masters thesis and prior to working in AHP worked for the Education Labour Relations Council and other HR/Labour relations organisations.

Hluma Zakaza
Eastern Cape district practice manager

"Passion for the job you can do best."

She is proudly South African, a rural girl from the Eastern Cape with a background that includes working with young and adult learners from general education and training up to higher education and training. She has empowered educators, lecturers and nurses on related SAQA aligned unit standard-based short skills programmes in the scope of education, training and development scope as well as health and welfare sectors.

Refilwe Nkomo
Orientation and communications officer

“Dance to the beat of your dreams”

With a passion for communication and people, Refilwe joined the AHP staff as the orientation and communications Officer. She has a BSc (Hons) in Marketing and has lived and worked around the world. Refilwe brings her knowledge and understanding of what it is like to live and work in a new country and culture to the organisation.

Karabo Marumo
Recruitment consultant

"No one has ever become poor by giving."

Karabo is the senior recruitment consultant for inland provinces, mainly focused on Limpopo and North West provinces. She obtained her BCur degree from North West University and worked as nurse for seven years before moving to a corporate environment. "I started work at AHP in 2008 and have not looked back since, through my work I have been able to make a difference in other people’s lives and that is the greatest reward I could have ever given myself."

Funani Ntontela
Eastern Cape district practice manager

"We are out to celebrate the roots of the spirit of fire."

Funani trained as a professional nurse (four-year piploma, Frere Nursing College), a public administrator (Hons) University of Stellenbosch, a project manager (University of the Free State), and informally trained as an actor, script writer, actor trainer, and a wide range of other theatre arts subjects. He is a married father of two, Aba Kara and Isis, and is currently intending to pursue a Masters Programme in Development Studies at Fort Hare University.

Rosanna Moonsamy
Recruitment consultant

Rosanna is a recruitment consultant for the KwaZulu Natal province. If you are looking for a placement close to our beautiful beaches or surrounded by stunning scenery in the midlands..She is the person to contact!

Esther Dlamini
Recruitment consultant

"Always make the decision to do that which benefits others,  that way you're bound to help someone out along the way"

Esther recruits for rural Eastern Cape province as well as some parts of South Africa's coastal region. "I love rural Eastern Cape, people there still know what it means to live life regardless of what you have. Rural communities are often neglected and yet they have so much to offer, even with the very little they have."