BCI Global Awards 2025 Winner Spotlight: Sabelo Nsiba
The BCI is proud to recognise Sabelo Nsiba as the winner of Continuity & Resilience Professional (Public Sector) of the Year 2025. This award recognises an individual who has implemented innovative and meaningful approaches to strengthen resilience within their organization and across the public sector.
Sabelo transformed his organization’s approach to continuity from a compliance exercise to a culture of genuine preparedness. Using a “pulse check” tool, he identified key gaps, launched a two-week engagement tour, and redesigned response plans based on ethical principles and real-world needs.
The "pulse check" tool helped to assess the true state of business continuity within the organization and used the BCI’s Good Practice Guide 7.0 to do so. The results revealed gaps in how continuity exercises were previously conducted, particularly that they were primarily compliance-driven, which limited the ability to build real resilience.
To address this, Sabelo initiated a two-week "meet and greet" roadshow to engage with peers from all levels, to understand the culture, and learn from past exercises and incidents. Using these insights, he updated the response plans and procedures, aligning them with ethical principles of integrity, quality and resilience. He was able to implement value-driven approaches that emphasised genuine preparedness over compliance. This included workshops to gain buy-in and reinforce the importance of continuity from an ethical standpoint.
Sabelo also ensured that business continuity and disaster recovery became a standing agenda item for all key meetings, ensuring these topics remained top of mind for leadership and staff. As a result, the most recent exercise was designed with a focus on real-world preparedness rather than ticking boxes. This shift is being embracing across the unit, to cultivate a culture that values ethical responsibility.
The judges were impressed, saying that ‘Sabelo has demonstrated exceptional innovation by developing tools like the "pulse check" to assess BCM maturity and mapping out clear improvement paths. They have also automated BIA templates using cost-effective solutions like MS Forms and PowerBI, streamlining processes without incurring high costs.
Sabelo's leadership and collaborative approach have been instrumental in advancing BCM programmes. They have fostered responsibility, accountability, and ownership of BCM across the organisation, building strong relationships and establishing a network of BCM champions. Dedication to BCM is evident through proactive efforts to overcome challenges, such as budget constraints and resistance to change. Their commitment to ethical leadership and resilience has significantly enhanced the organisation's BCM capabilities.’
Submissions for the BCI Regional Awards 2026 close 16 April, we strongly encourage all applicants to submit their applications well in advance of the deadline in order for us to review and feedback, if needed.
Join us for BCI World Hybrid 2026 at the Convene Sancroft, St. Paul's, London, on 10-11 November 2026! Register your interest now to secure a super early bird discount for both in-person and virtual attendance.
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