WOMEN OF THE FUTURE:

CHAIR OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AT STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY & CHIEF PATRON OF THE THULI MADONSELA FOUNDATION

Meet the judges!

I want women to succeed as entrepreneurs. But I also want to see a business that seeks to solve society’s problems, with principled leaders who treat their staff well.❜❜

We have been very fortunate to have Professor Thuli Madonsela serve as a FAIRLADY Santam Women of the Future judge since its inception in 2014. Prof Madonsela was SA’s Public Protector for seven years, and among numerous other accolades she was also named one of TIME 100’s Influential People in 2014, and Forbes Africa Person of the Year 2016. Prof Madonsela is currently Chair of Social Justice at Stellenbosch University.

Prof Madonsela most admires women like media mogul Jane Raphaely, and Louisa Mojela and Gloria Serobe of Wiphold, who, she says, are all exponents of the practice of ‘lifting as you rise’.

‘When you take other people with you, you might not rise like a shooting star – that’s easier when you’re carrying only your own weight. But it’s not sustainable.’

Another source of inspiration is her brother. ‘He is an accountant who focused on doing things the right way. He didn’t join the tendrepreneurship rush; he moved back to Soweto so that he could use our house as a base for his operations; he drives a basic car. And that comes from what he saw in my father.’

Their father’s approach, says Prof Madonsela, was to look after the cents so the rands looked after themselves.

Prof Madonsela sees South Africa as the perfect environment for entrepreneurship. ‘South Africa is under-explored. There are far more opportunities here than in countries that have always operated in a globalised environment. We have challenges, but then again, entrepreneurs are problem solvers.’ she says.

As you’d expect from a woman regarded by many as the moral compass of our nation, Prof Madonsela has much to say about integrity and best practice in business.

‘It’s about sustainability. If your practices are unethical, in the long term it could hurt your business. A poisoned environment will come back to hurt you – and your children! People need to treat each other fairly, justly and professionally; if that doesn’t happen, it becomes a dog-eat-dog world, which ultimately is an unstable world.’