Meet South African Lynda Smith, recipient of our travel bursary supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Healthy Ageing Challenge!

We are delighted Lynda has accepted our offer of our 2023 travel bursary, supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Healthy Ageing Challenge, to attend the Global Ageing Conference, 7-8 September 2023, Glasgow, Scotland.

Lynda is a social entrepreneur who cares deeply about change for our most vulnerable citizens. She spent the first 25 years of her professional life in the early childhood sector, but at the age of 50, made the decision to try and understand how longevity and technology would change the lives of older citizens in South Africa.

With the aim of educating, communicating and building a network of older citizens with skills to be able to serve and build the economy, and harness inter-generational mentorship and supporting sectors like job creation, health, and education, she studied a diploma in social entrepreneurship at Gordon Institute of Business Science.

Lynda founded and is the CEO of both Refirement Network and 50Plus-Skills.

“The Refirement Network is a place where I speak, write, coach, and influence the change in the narrative around longevity and technology for the 50Plus generation. I work locally and connect globally,” she explains.

“The world of retirement is changing, and we believe you should consider ‘refirement’.  We challenge individuals as well as business, churches, and society to think differently about the future. Technology and longevity are macro trends impacting the future.”

The 50Plus-Skills social enterprise is is a group of passionate South Africans who have brought together their skills, resources, and time to build a community to benefit economic growth in South Africa.

“This community can provide a platform for individuals, aged fifty plus, to connect with and provide their skills, time and services to business, civil society, academic institutions, NPOs and government,” says Lynda. “We are a subscribed membership community, and our aim is to help our members to find a place of belonging through serving, learning, and earning,” says Linda.

She spent several years learning and understanding from thought leaders elsewhere in the world, understanding that the challenge on the African continent is different. “We are a young continent in ageing terms but need to learn the lessons and to prepare for the future of ageing on the continent,” she adds.

“I have spent the last 15 years reading, connecting virtually and learning. I have never attended a conference on ageing, although this has been a dream for many years. I am a networker, enjoy connecting people together and finding ways to out of the box solutions.

Lynda describes herself as a Longevity Advocate. She has been a long-term partner with the Pass it on Network and also part of the Southern African Group. In 2022, 50Plus-Skills managed a campaign to spotlight Longevity Champions in Women’s month in South Africa.

She has also written a 6-part program called ‘Designing your Next Chapter’. This programme includes group facilitation across six subjects. Identity, Purpose, Mega Trends, Second Careers, Building a personal brand and Legacy. Launched in 2018, Linda has manged this programme with public groups as well as a few Financial Institutions who are seeing this as a good model to assist their older employees to cross the bridge into their next phase of life.

In this video Lynda tells her story.

Healthy Ageing

In 2021 through her networks, Lynda managed a conference with a sponsor on Health- span versus Lifespan.

She has now built a pilot with individual members, charities (NPO’s) churches and business, and the cross-pollination is valuable and bringing value for all sectors.

“I am keen to attend to learn from others, find global partners and help us to duplicate our models elsewhere as well as grow stronger here in South Africa,” she says.

“It would be a privilege for me to attend this event. I am a 4^th generation South African with Scottish Roots. It would be wonderful to visit this part of the world, engaging with and learning from others in my area of passion.”

By partnering with us, the benefits of UKRI’s Healthy Ageing Challenge research and innovation can assist Lynda to grow her international networks, share inspirational models and develop and implement other healthy ageing programmes in South Africa.

UKRI’s Healthy Ageing Challenge aims to help people remain active, productive, independent and socially connected across generations for as long as possible. It does this by enabling businesses, including social enterprises, to develop and deliver beneficial products, services and business models.

We are very much looking forward to meeting Lynda at the conference, and learning more about her innovative programmes and networks, and care and ageing services in South Africa.

Find out more about CommonAge’s activities, supported by UKRI at the Global Ageing Conference here.

Join us at the Global Ageing Conference!

Book your tickets before 18 August – click on the image below for more details.

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