LIVING IN FAITH

Origin & History

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As a descendant of German Lutheran Missionaries who left their country in the mid-1850s to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with people in what is now South Africa, Reinhild Niebuhr grew up on a farm in KwaZulu-Natal, in a family committed to living a life in faith. As a student active in campus life at the University of Pretoria, and during her first visit to Germany in the mid-1980s, Reinhild became acutely aware of the negative social impact of Apartheid on her fellow citizens. While completing a journalism internship in Germany in 1989, she decided to rather dedicate her life to  making a difference herself, instead of simply reporting on other 'everyday heroes'.  These were very exciting times: Reinhild was in Germany during the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and also experienced the release of Nelson Mandela from prison a few months later, from an international perspective. Despite the uncertainty of the future, on her return to South Africa, she launched her first start-up business, a free-ads paper which she called "JUNK MAIL" on 1 December 1990, one week after completing her post-graduate thesis.

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Career in Government

After five years in the publishing industry, Reinhild decided to play an active role in the transformation of the 'old' South Africa to a 'New South Africa', by accepting a position to serve as the first Head: Communication at the newly established Gauteng Provincial Legislature in the heart of Johannesburg, Africa's economic capital at the time. Understanding her role as that of a "changemaker", Reinhild established the Communication Department within the Legislature, then went on to join the Office of the Auditor-General in 1997 as the new Centre Manager: Communication & Publishing, working closely with the leadership at the time, to drive forward transformation within this government agency. One year later she was headhunted by the national Department of Communications to lead the national awareness campaign of a special project under the auspices of The Presidency of South Africa. Reinhild used this opportunity as a springboard to launch her own strategic communications consulting agency at the end of 1998. Her intention was to have more flexibility to pursue what she believed was her life's calling: mentorship of unemployed youth.

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Strategic Consultancy

As a consultant from 1999 to 2010 Reinhild had excellent opportunities to work and travel all across Southern, East and West Africa. She also addressed the 1998 Job Summit coordinated by The Presidency and subsequently was awarded a grant by the then Greater Pretoria Metropolitan Council (now Tshwane Metro) to pilot a first youth leadership and entrepreneurship development programme, working with 10 unemployed youth in the city, from 1999-2000. During this time she also completed a stint working within a top international lobbying agency in Washington DC, while also participating as a guest student in a Masters Programme in Communications at McGill University during a six-month sabbatical in Montreal, Canada in 2001. In 2002 she wrote and published her first book "Young Africa - Policy Blueprint For A Continent Of Youth", committing the next decade of her life to youth development.

Dedication to Youth Development

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In 2003 Reinhild had a profound spiritual confirmation of her God-given calling, while visiting the little village of Hermannsburg, Germany, where her missionary ancestors had originated. On her return to South Africa she accepted a nomination as a Board Member of the Themba Trust, a deep rural educational non-profit organisation founded by an uncle of hers, Missionary Stillfried Niebuhr, in the rural village of Dirkiesdorp, Mpumalanga Province. In 2005 her husband, Nico den Oudsten, an architect by profession and the then Director: Health Facilities Planning at the National Department of Health in Pretoria, South Africa, resigned from his position in order to move with Reinhild to a farm near Dirkiesdorp, in order to provide support to this organisation. This move also enabled Reinhild's dream of running a pilot for a Leadership And Entrepreneurship Programme (LEAP), aimed at deep rural unemployed youth, which she had designed based on her experience of piloting her earlier youth development programme in Pretoria. The W. K. Kellogg Foundation, one of Reinhild's consulting clients, provided grant funding to make it possible for Reinhild and a little team of youth leaders to work with 150 unemployed youth in 10 deep rural villages in the border regions of Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal provinces. This is the area where Reinhild had grown up and she wanted to make a difference in her remote, rural 'home region'.

A Spiritual Journey

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Living and working at the Themba Trust became a deeply spiritual journey for both Reinhild and Nico, developing a clear understanding for them what it means to work at the frontline of "Spiritual Warfare": being under constant attack by the 'unseen' world, which is aimed at discouraging, threatening and undermining every effort towards overcoming the fear caused by superstitious belief systems, the ignorance that makes these belief systems possible and prevents people from fulfilling their God-given potential, and the poverty, that results from the combination of the above. Reinhild has many stories to tell about REAL-LIFE super-natural occurrences and miracles from this period, which served to further deepen her faith in God.

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Preparing the Way

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In 2013 the couple moved back to Pretoria and Reinhild embarked on a process of preparing the massive roll-out of the Young Africa STRATEGY. She starting by bringing together software systems that will make it possible to coordinate and support the development of 200 million unemployed youth across Africa. She also worked with various partners to establish a system of enterprise apps aimed at helping small and medium enterprises to do business in the digital economy, thereby creating the jobs and opportunities that Africa's 200 million unemployed youth need. From 2014-2015 Reinhild focused on piloting and testing these various software systems, which together form 'econovix', a highly innovative business concept, based on providing business support services together with cloud-based software, i.e. "Service With A Software" (SWAS) to any kind of business or organisation, including ministries.

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Focus on the Young Africa VISION

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During 2016-2017 God opened the door for Reinhild to focus on developing the Young Africa VISION  in great detail, supported by like-minded business associates. This resulted in the establishment of a number of business and non-profit entities, all forming part of an integrated "Young Africa STRATEGY". At the same time Reinhild was able to build an expanded network of connections, which is now forming the backbone of the implementation of the Young Africa VISION. 

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Building International Networks

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In 2018 Nico and Reinhild were invited to an investor conference in Germany. Out of this event grew a six month stay in both Europe and the United States of America, with special focus on Berlin and Washington DC, as key cities in the implementation of a Young Africa STRATEGY. During this period God opened the doors to building extremely valuable investor networks, which in future will enable the investment and connections required to roll out the overall Young Africa VISION. At the end of 2018 the couple returned to South Africa, and faced another unexpected setback: more spiritual warfare! It was clear: "someone" isn't happy about the persistence of their pursuit to create the systems, networks and obtain the investment required to scale the youth development work, and thereby the leadership and enterprise development work, that was being done under the auspices of the Young Africa VISION!

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Saying Farewell to Nico

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In the first half of 2019 Reinhild continued to work on the next steps to bring a number of investment opportunities to fruition. Really exciting stuff in the energy and transport sectors. But then, in May 2019, God surprised the couple with the sudden call 'home' into Eternity by Nico! Dealing with the shock of the sudden loss of her life's companion presented another major spiritual challenge to Reinhild.

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But, supported by the strength and peace granted to her by the Holy Spirit, this "Spiritual Warrior" stepped ahead in FAITH - this time again without her beloved husband. It was clear: God already had a very clear plan for her life!

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Repositioning To Enable Scale-Up

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And the next - very exciting! - step of Reinhild's journey started: working in FAITH to take on a business that was in deep financial trouble, with the view to turn it around! Trying to turn around a failing business is a big challenge under every circumstance, but trying to do so right through COVID-19 has been quite excruciating for everyone involved. Many of the original team members gave up hope and left the company, causing more difficulties in terms of being able to continue delivering services to the long-suffering customers. But throughout, God has kept the doors of the business open, through miralce after miracle. And so Reinhild believes that this challenge has been worth it: the business is the perfect vehicle to enable the massive roll-out of the Young Africa VISION, starting in March 2021!

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Are you interested in knowing what happened next? 

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Simply book Reinhild Niebuhr as a speaker at your next corporate or church event.

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This is REAL LIFE Drama - with the Holy Trinity at the centre of everything that is happening! 

Your audience will learn how God even turns our stupidity, incompetence, mistakes and failures into GOOD over time. And he can do the same for you.

Reinhild openly and honestly talks about her own mistakes and weaknesses, and how God has been working to achieve incredible results, DESPITE her own shortcomings.

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The most wonderful thing is: God is more interested in our character, than in our achievements. And if we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, no matter what happens during our life here on Earth, by sheer grace our life stories have a HAPPY ENDING! 

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Soli Deo Gloria.