Our Story
In our 20-plus years,
we’ve helped shape many futures.
It’s what we set out to do.
Cornerstone was founded in 1999, born of a dream
of a small band of doers, on a path with heart.
We did more than dream. We founded Cornerstone Performance Solutions because we believed – and continue to believe – that inequality and poverty reflect a poverty of opportunity, not of talent. This band has grown to include others who also dream of being part of the story of a more equal South Africa, a more prosperous and just Africa, and a kinder world.
We began with a focus in banking, and our first logo featured a butterfly on quarried stone. It captured what we wanted to be: light, colourful, and agile, and grounded upon unshakeable foundations of knowledge, practice, ethics and humanity.
Derek Shirley CEO
In our 20-plus years, we’ve helped shape many futures. It’s what we set out to do.
Cornerstone was founded in 1999, born of a dream of a small band of doers, on a path with heart.
Our point of departure is that thinking is a skill that can be modified through mediation.
We’ve been inspired by the genius of educationists like Reuven Feuerstein who’ve shown the massive potential that can be unlocked to transform
circumstance, with the right intent and the right techniques.
Like him and others, we’ve found that science is love’s greatest ally.
Cornerstone has become a
home to many people and ideas.
Fundamentally, though, it is home to a shared ideal of a learning that emancipates people from the disadvantage of limited opportunity. Our band is drawn less to people born to high station, elite schooling and global universities – those inspiring us have always been individuals of humble beginnings, and we’ve celebrated, time and again, what such people achieve given the opportunity.
Over the years we’ve journeyed far beyond our foundations in banking, and as we ourselves have learned, grown and transformed, we’ve seen ever more clearly the deep humanity that binds us, and it inspires us to imagine
and become.
The people we work with best are those who also strive for the great equaliser and the great differentiator –
Learning that can change tomorrow.
Contact Us 
#Shapeyourfuture: contact us TODAY
+27 11 789 1957
Physical Address
39 Grove Street, Randburg, Johannesburg, Gauteng,
South Africa
Contact Us