Etsko Schuitema is the founder of the Schuitema Group, a consultancy dedicated to the enhancement of Human Excellence – based on the Care & Growth model.

Born into a mining family in South Africa, Etsko grew up in Johannesburg.

After doing an Honours degree in Social Anthropology at the University of the Witwatersrand, he got a job as a researcher with The Chamber of Mines of South Africa’s Research Organisation.

Employed specifically by the Human Resources Laboratory of the organisation, his work initially focused on the issue of conflict on gold mines in South Africa.

This work led to the development of a framework for understanding trust in management and employee commitment in conflict-ridden environments.

Toward the end of the 1980’s he was asked to head the Human Resources Laboratory’s Industry Project to implement his insights, which is where the Care & Growth model originated.

It was met with significant success within the mining sector. Such success in fact that Etsko left his role with the Chamber of Mines and along with a group of colleagues, to establish a consultancy where this model could be more widely disseminated.

Over the last four decades Etsko has consulted to many organizations in Africa, Europe, North America, Asia and Australia.

He has worked across a broad range of organisations and industries and has developed specific depth in mining, telecommunications, financial services, retail and manufacturing enterprises. 

Etsko has developed a number of frameworks relating to the issue of intent in both organisational and psychological contexts.

These have been published in eight books which he has authored.

He is a teaching shaykh of the Darqawi Shadhili Sufi order and runs a Sufi Centre near Johannesburg.