Professor Thuli Madonsela, Chair of Social Justice at Stellenbosch University & Founder of Social Justice M-Plan and the Thuma Foundation
It`s been such an honour to have Prof Madonsela on our panel of judges since the very beginning. Now in her sixth year as a judge, she is excited to meet the next batch of entrepreneurs. ‘Some jobs require you to have a degree, but to be an entrepreneur you need an idea, passion and hard work,’ she says.
Prof Madonsela is best known for her work as SA’s Public Protector, a title she held with utmost integrity for seven years. She’s received several accolades, including being named one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2014; Forbes Africa’s Person of the Year in 2016; and in 2018, she was awarded Germany’s Great Order of Merit. Her public image was cemented with the award-winning film Whispering Truth to Power, which documented her final year as Public Protector.
She is the law trust Chair of Social Justice and a law professor at Stellenbosch University; founder of the Thuma Foundation, a democracy leadership and literacy public benefit organisation; and convener of the Social Justice M-Plan, a Marshall Plan-like initiative aimed at catalysing progress towards ending poverty and reducing inequality by 2030.
WHAT PROF MADONSELA WILL BE LOOKING FOR: She will be looking out for a woman who’s building a world they want to live in. They also need to be looking to the future, and the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.