Chris’s Story
I was born and raised in the rural landscape of Port St. Johns in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. During high school, I discovered a natural gift for public speaking, which led me to take a stand up against the unjust system of apartheid. This bold action put me on a lifelong journey of resistance against discrimination and injustice.
I firmly believe that every individual has an innate ability to contribute meaningfully to the world. My mission is to inspire positive change and help others uncover their own purpose.
I’ve had the privilege of working alongside some of the world’s most influential leaders, including Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, FW De Klerk, and Colin La Foy. I’ve been blessed with two extraordinary parents, Wilfred and Gladys Lubbe, who instilled in me the values of unconditional love and the essence of humanity, or ‘Ubuntu.’
I share my personal story and also the remarkable narrative of South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy—a tale of determination and resilience that honors the thousands of South Africans who sacrificed their lives for freedom. The key themes in my message are love, resilience, determination, courage, perseverance, persistence, and the transformative power of forgiveness.
I look forward to visiting your organization and sharing my story with you.
Testimonials
Chris spoke recently at our company leadership event as part of a team of speakers addressing the broad theme of leadership. His focus was Nelson Mandela and talking about South Africa’s transition from white minority to black majority rule as well as the circumstances of his own life. Chris speaks about the time through the prism of his role as a bodyguard and therefore closeness to then President Mandela with great passion, humour as well as humility. This was an address given to a mixed group of persons from executive level to junior hi potentials and it held the audience spellbound. The message is personal and the learning experience unique to each individual depending on their experience but is captivating at every level and thoroughly recommended listening. What Chris said will long be reflected on particularly in the circumstances of current world leadership.
Hi Chris, I want to say a heartfelt thank to you for speaking at the recent IBM Sales Event. In different measures your talk was inspirational, spellbinding, powerful, funny, painful and humbling; it made a huge impression the whole team. I’ve never heard so may positive comments from my colleagues about any event and it was your story that shone a light on the day………albeit talking about a very dark period in our very recent history – apartheid South Africa. Below I have included a number of comments from my colleagues who sum up the day far better than I can. However, before that I want to say that the messages you gave to the team also have so much in common with business life today i.e. communication, dealing with setbacks, scenario planning, determination, team working and negotiation. We truly learnt a lot from you when we met – thank you
WOW!!! I have never seen a Guest speaker receive an ovation but Chris Lubbe did so on 2 occasions. He is a fantastic speaker who tells his very moving life story and the issues & history surrounding apartheid with disarming sincerity. Would be good on Cunard too.
