New pair to lead Tutu body
Powerful duo bring diverse leadership skills
THE Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation has appointed a powerful duo to lead the next stage of its growth and development.
Chairperson Niclas Kjellström-Matseke and chief executive Piyushi Kotecha harness a set of diverse and complementary skills in leadership, governance, sustainability and organisational development, the foundation said in a statement.
The appointment of new leadership comes at a critical juncture for the foundation following the Tutus’ withdrawal from public life, as the foundation settles into new headquarters in a restored 200-year-old heritage building built by slaves in the heart of Cape Town.
Kjellström-Matseke, a Swedish-born global business leader and sustainable development specialist, takes the reins of the foundation three years after relocating to the land of his paternal ancestry. His great-uncle, the storied educator SK Matseke, once taught a young Leah Tutu, and loaned textbooks to assist Desmond Tutu through his first degree from Unisa.
Kjellström-Matseke’s grandfather, Simon Peter Matseke, was a human rights activist and founding member of the ANC, who served as president of the Transvaal African Congress; his father, Robinson Matseke, fled South Africa under the noses of security police after the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, finding his way to Sweden where
he attended university and married.
Kjellström-Matseke was the chief executive of Novamedia Nordics from its establishment in 2005 until 2015. He is the founding partner of New York-based company 17Asset Management. He was a member of The Elders’ advisory board, which at the time was chaired by Archbishop Tutu, and in 2013 received the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights – The Ripple of Hope Award for “dynamic and creative leadership”.
Kjellström-Matseke described his connection to the Tutu Legacy Foundation as a calling.
“In a sense, it consummates a multi-generational relationship that for many years I didn’t fully appreciate. The Foundation is a platform created by the Tutus’ servant leadership to contribute to the next generation of thinkers and leaders.”
Archbishop Tutu said: “The Matseke family is among South Africa’s most illustrious. Many years ago, Leah and I were both privileged to have been exposed to SK Matseke, the pioneering teacher and principal, who taught Leah and loaned me textbooks for my first degree. Now, Niclas Kjellström-Matseke, who grew up in Sweden and has developed a global reputation in business leadership and ethics, returns to South Africa and agrees to lead our legacy foundation.”
Kotecha was the chief executive of the South African Universities Vice-Chancellors Association and interim chief executive of Higher Education South Africa.