Business Circle Capital Ventures Chair South Africa

Mamphela Ramphele, a South African national, is the Executive Chair of Circle Capital Ventures, a Cape Town based black economic empowerment company focusing on crowing companies and investing in people.  She is a director of major companies.

She is chair of convenors of the Dinokeng Scenarios sponsored by Nedcor/Old Mutual with the report released in May 2009.  She was recently appointed as Chairperson of the Technology Innovation Agency, an entity established in the Department of Science and Technology to promote innovation culture in the nation to enable it turn research outputs into products and services to promote competitiveness and sustainable development.

She served as Co-Chair on the Global Commission for International Migration (GCIM) between 2004-2005.

She served as a Managing Director of the World Bank from May 2000 to July 2004.  As a member of the senior leadership team, she was responsible for managing the institution’s human development activities in the areas of education; health, nutrition and population; and social protection.  She was also responsible for the World Bank Institute, which provides training and learning for both staff and clients.  In addition, she provided oversight and guidance to the Bank Group’s efforts in the areas of knowledge and information and communication technologies.

Prior to joining the Bank, Mamphela Ramphele was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, a post she took up in 1996, becoming the first black woman to hold this position at a South African university.  She joined the university as a research fellow in 1986, and was appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor five years later.  She is an author of many important titles about critical socio-economic issues in South Africa.

Mamphela Ramphele has received numerous prestigious national and international awards, including numerous honorary doctorates acknowledging her scholarship, her service to the community, and her leading role in raising development issues and spearheading projects for disadvantaged persons throughout South Africa.

Mamphela qualified as a medical doctor at the University of Natal in 1972.  She holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Cape Town, a BCom degree in Administration from the University of South Africa, and diplomas in Tropical Health and Hygiene, and Public Health, from the University of Witwatersrand.

Source: UCT