In an age of data overload, leaders face a critical disconnect: how to move people from understanding to action. This keynote reveals storytelling as the essential bridge. We reframe Telling Tales from a soft skill into a strategic leadership discipline, blending the art of human connection with the science of organizational performance.
You will discover a practical framework of three powerful story types—the Why Story, the Failure Story, and the Origin Story—designed to communicate vision, build deep trust, and secure genuine buy-in. Leave understanding how to use your most fundamental tool to transform data into meaning and a group of individuals into a cohesive, driven community.
Rehema Isa is a respected business strategist, leadership development practitioner, and master storyteller with more than 25 years of experience guiding organisations and executives through complex change. As Co-Founder and Director of Oya Solutions, she partners with leaders to unlock strategic clarity, design future-ready organisational pathways, and cultivate team environments where innovation and collaboration thrive. Her facilitation approach is known for enabling expansive thinking, helping teams map new growth curves and align around purposeful action.
Rehema is also the creator and educator behind a leading strategic storytelling and communication masterclass that has been delivered through Duke Corporate Education, Wits Business School, and other global institutions. Through this program she has empowered more than 2000 professionals to elevate their influence, communicate with precision, and use narrative as a strategic tool for leadership.
Her entrepreneurial impact extends to ventures such as Oya Foods, an agrifood aggregator supporting African value chains, and Womanomics Africa®, a non-profit building a pan-African economic highway for women traders.
Rehema Isa is a distinguished business strategist and executive leadership development practitioner with over 25 years of experience guiding organisations and leaders through complex change. As the Co-Founder and Director of Oya Solutions, a specialist strategy and leadership development firm, she partners with clients to unlock growth, elevate strategy, and build high-performance teams. Her expertise lies in facilitating “blue sky thinking” experiences and helping teams define their next growth curve.
A master storyteller and certified coach, Rehema Isa is the curator and educator behind the acclaimed strategic storytelling and communication masterclass, delivered through institutions like Duke Corporate Education and Wits Business School, empowering over 2000 professionals to communicate with impact.
Her entrepreneurial drive is evidenced in her co-founding of social enterprises like Oya Foods, an agrifood aggregator, and Womanomics Africa®, a non-profit creating a pan-African economic highway for women traders. She has won awards for her thought leadership, named one of Mail & Guardian’s Women in Business (2023) and is the Overall Winner of Women of Stature (2022).
As a TEDx Organiser and Head Speaker Coach for TEDxLytteltonWomen, Rehema Isa has amplified the voices of over 100 African women. Rehema holds an MBA from the University of Witwatersrand Business School and is a sought-after keynote speaker on strategy, leadership, and the power of narrative.
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In this 1 minute 3 second leadership clip, Rehema Isa delivers a concise yet powerful reflection on how storytelling shapes leadership culture across the African continent. She opens by noting that although society is often “over 14 years behind schedule,” the real insights needed for progress lie in stories rooted in truth. These stories reveal the disconnect between the values communities claim to uphold and the narratives they celebrate.
Rehema explains that when societies glorify “the hunter,” they elevate an individualistic model of success that contradicts foundational African principles of community, connection, and collective responsibility. By focusing on the lone hero, she argues, people unintentionally undermine the communal ethos that has long defined African social structures.
She then contrasts the proverb “it takes a village” with the modern habit of rewarding singular achievement, noting that awards like “entrepreneur of the year” often promote the idea that progress is the result of individual effort alone. This, she suggests, ignores the collaborative networks, shared histories, and community support systems that make real change possible.
Short and direct, the clip serves as a call to reconsider leadership stories, honour collective contribution, and reshape how success is framed in African contexts.
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