Professor Thuli Madonsela

Director of the Centre for Social Justice(CSJ) in the Faculty of Law at Stellenbosch University and the Law Trust Research Chair Professor of Law in Social Justice Studies

Prof Thuli Madonsela has been on the judging panel since 2015. The former Public Protector of South Africa and full-time commissioner on the South African Law Reform Commission founded the Thuma Foundation for Democracy Leadership and Literacy, and is a member of the African Academy of Sciences. She was recently appointed to the UN Scientific Advisory Board and as chairperson of Cities Alliance, a global partnership fighting urban poverty. She enjoys international recognition, including having been named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2014, and being the recipient of more than 70 awards.

She believes it is often entrepreneurs who think outside the box and who contribute to solving problems in society.

What Prof Thuli will be looking for: ’I’m looking for a woman who is building a just world that she’d want to live in. She also needs to be an environmentally conscious problem-solver who is leveraging technology, digitalisation and artificial intelligence to improve current and future life.’