Judy Sikuza

Judy endeavours to live a values based, integrated life. As such, her anchor values include Ubuntu, purpose, authenticity, excellence, creativity, courage, collaboration, joy, and embracing complexity. She treasures slow reflective mornings, swimming, listening to podcasts during a walk, binge watching series about middle age, dancing, travelling, and spending quality time with loved ones, especially her daughter Zazi. Judy enjoys adventure and has engaged in activities such as summitting Mount Kilimanjaro, bungee jumping, sky diving, cage shark diving, riding a speeding ostrich, and kayaking on the Okavango Delta on a mokoro.

Ms Sikuza began her career in the private sector as an Organisation Development practitioner, working for Absa, then Investec Bank. She also consulted in the development sector for Reos Partners, a social enterprise that helps governments, private sector, and civil society organisations make progress on their most important complex challenges. Judy joined The Mandela Rhodes Foundation in 2014, holding manager and director positions as head of the Foundation’s programming, before her appointment as the organisation’s CEO in 2019.

Judy Sikuza is inaugural Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Future Council on Leadership, a WEF Young Global Leader, a non-executive board director of Oxford University Press South Africa and host of The Mandela Rhodes Foundation Podcast. She has been invited as a keynote speaker, panellist, moderator and programme director on several public platforms internationally for institutions such as the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, The Obama Foundation, Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, the Graça Machel Trust, and others. On these platforms Judy has addressed topics such as nation building, leadership, education, Ubuntu, internationalisation, resilience, transformation, and delivered graduation speeches at Wits University and University of Cape Town. 

Some of Judy’s other achievements and recognitions include being an Abe Bailey Fellow to the UK, Mail & Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans, Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow, Sarie magazine’s top 10 women under 30, and has received special alumni awards from both her high school and university for outstanding, all-round achievements in her career. She has also authored and/or co-authored articles on various platforms including the World Economic Forum, the Mail & Guardian, and Daily Maverick.

Judy was born and raised in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. She matriculated in 2003 from Stirling High School in East London (with distinction), has an Honours in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Nelson Mandela University (as a Mandela Rhodes Scholar), an MA in Organization Psychology from Columbia University (as a Fulbright Scholar), and is a certified coach through the Centre for Coaching at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business. She blends intellectual curiosity with values based leadership, firmly believing that we can have a truly transformed African continent if we capacitated the next generation of leaders with the skills that build more humane and just societies.

Key advancements under Judy’s leadership as MRF CEO include:

• Endowment growth to milestone $60 million (R1 billion+) mark.
• Obtaining $13 million for core Scholarships Programme, and £1 million for SJMS PhD offering.
• Secured $1 million funding for the creation of the Äänit Prize for social impact focusing on 10 SDGs for Africa.
• Expanded reach into 12 new African countries, moving the Foundation’s footprint to 38 African countries.
• External Relations: successful rebrand, and broader public impact through written thought leadership, media engagements, conference contributions, and the creation of The Mandela Rhodes Foundation Podcast.
• Governance and culture: diversification of Board and sub-committee members, creating a values based, vibrant, high performance culture that is owned and driven by all in decision making, and new policies that align with the Foundation’s values, core highlight being the Umoya Policy governing accountability and belonging.
• Leadership Development Programme: iteration of the curriculum towards more Afrocentric content, and the creation of the second year programme that allows for cross sector collaboration amongst Mandela Rhodes Scholars and local communities on key social impact areas.