Avril Fortuin — Entrepreneurial Coach & Idea Strategist
Avril Fortuin helps ambitious professionals become confident, purpose-driven entrepreneurs — starting with personal clarity and ending with scalable success.
Book a free strategy call
Her Story
She grew up in apartheid South Africa, one of eight children, facing racism, oppression, and a lack of opportunity that could easily have closed off her future before it began. It didn’t. She pursued her education and her career regardless.
That early experience of forging a path where none was offered still shapes the way she coaches today: with a quiet, unshakeable belief that capability isn’t limited by circumstance, and that the right support at the right moment changes what’s possible.
That belief carried her through more than three decades of work across business development, curriculum design, and training — coaching and mentoring entrepreneurs and small business owners, training thousands of young people and women in vocational and business skills, and leading programmes for organisations including the World Bank, Oxfam International, CARE International, and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation across Liberia, Rwanda, and Botswana. She holds an MBA (graduated with distinction), a Bachelor of Economics, a Diploma in Higher Education, and further postgraduate training in strategic business management and online facilitation.
In 2016, she brought that experience home to Avril Fortuin Training Services — a coaching practice built on one conviction: most business coaching jumps straight to strategy, and most life coaching stays too general. Entrepreneurship needs something more specific than either — the mindset, clarity, and self-belief that turn capable professionals into business owners who actually follow through.
"Capability isn't limited by circumstance, and the right support at the right moment changes what's possible."
That belief carried her through more than three decades of work across business development, curriculum design, and training — coaching and mentoring entrepreneurs and small business owners, training thousands of young people and women in vocational and business skills, and leading programmes for organisations including the World Bank, Oxfam International, CARE International, and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation across Liberia, Rwanda, and Botswana. She holds an MBA (graduated with distinction), a Bachelor of Economics, a Diploma in Higher Education, and further postgraduate training in strategic business management and online facilitation.
In 2016, she brought that experience home to Avril Fortuin Training Services — a coaching practice built on one conviction: most business coaching jumps straight to strategy, and most life coaching stays too general. Entrepreneurship needs something more specific than either — the mindset, clarity, and self-belief that turn capable professionals into business owners who actually follow through.
"Capability isn't limited by circumstance, and the right support at the right moment changes what's possible."
Credentials
MBA (Distinction) · World Bank · Oxfam International · CARE International · UN FAO
Her Coaching Mantra
“Real power lies in living with purpose"
Find it. Live it. Fulfil it.
Her Coaching Mantra
“Real power lies in living with purpose"
Find it. Live it. Fulfil it.
How She Coaches
Avril now works with professionals and entrepreneurs at every stage of that journey — whether someone’s just starting to explore an idea, already building momentum, or successful on paper but quietly aware that something isn’t yet aligned.
Goal
Empowerment
Clarity and foundation — for those with an idea, or a persistent feeling that they should have one, who need a starting point that matches the clarity they already carry.
Strategic Coaching
Structure and action — for those who have clarity and need the architecture to carry it forward.
Growth Innovation
Leadership and scale — for those ready to lead and grow what they’ve already built.
Each stage is grounded in the same starting principle: personal clarity comes first, because a business built without it rarely lasts, and one built with it usually does.
Each stage is grounded in the same starting principle: personal clarity comes first, because a business built without it rarely lasts, and one built with it usually does.
Life Outside Coaching
She’s the last-born of a family of eight, and still lives like it — always up for a good conversation, a dinner party, or a new place to explore. She’s travelled extensively across Africa, Europe, and North America, is rarely without a book, and counts a good biryani or a plate of Jollof rice among life’s great pleasures.
Ready to Find Your Starting Point?
“Where clarity drives confidence — and confidence drives business.”
Not sure where you're starting from?
Ready to Find Your Starting Point?
“Where clarity drives confidence — and confidence drives business.”
Not sure where you're starting from?
@2026 Avril Fortuin Training Services