Educator profile
Joanie Fredericks is the founder and CEO of LOTS (Ladies Own Transport Services), an innovative women-led driving school and transportation company based in Cape Town, South Africa. With over 35 years of community development experience, she is dedicated to empowering women through safe mobility, driver education, and economic independence. Through LOTS, she has helped hundreds of women gain driving skills, confidence, and access to new opportunities while championing women's safety and empowerment in her community.
Joanie Fredericks is a South African entrepreneur, community activist, and women's empowerment advocate who founded LOTS (Ladies Own Transport Services) in 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa. Her mission is to empower women through safe, supportive driving education and transportation services.
Joanie established LOTS as an all-female driving school after recognizing that many women felt uncomfortable or unsafe with traditional driving instruction. The organization has since expanded to include driving lessons, learner's licence training, women's transport services, scholarship programs, and initiatives that help women gain mobility, independence, and access to employment opportunities.
A survivor of violence herself, Joanie has turned her personal experiences into a platform for social change. Beyond driving education, she has spent decades working in community development, women's rights advocacy, food security programs, and grassroots empowerment projects in disadvantaged communities around Cape Town.
Today, she is widely recognized for:
