Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe Joins Harvard Global Advisory Council

Co-Founder and CEO of the Motsepe Foundation, Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe, joins the Harvard University Global Advisory Council. The Council represents a collective of influential leaders in business, academia, and government from different parts of world, each of whom bring a unique perspective to the institution and its global growth.

Harvard University has an extensive global footprint. With schools on the continent in Johannesburg, Lagos and Nairobi, Dr Moloi-Motsepe hopes to strengthen knowledge exchanges between the institution and researchers based in Africa. Notable in her efforts, in 2020, she co-created the Motsepe Presidential Research Accelerator Fund for Africa. In support of faculty-led and student-driven research projects, the Fund is awarded to researchers engaging in multidisciplinary collaboration between Harvard faculty and Africa-based academics, focusing on advancing key challenges and opportunities facing the continent.

Dr Moloi-Motsepe, who began her term as Chancellor of the University of Cape Town in 2020, has been a longstanding contributor to Harvard University, having served as a council member of Harvard Women’s Leadership Board and the Harvard Kennedy School Center for Public Leadership. Through various partnerships forged over the years, Dr Moloi-Motsepe has also enabled access to the Harvard Social Innovation + Change Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School for social entrepreneurs.

At the Harvard Global Advisory Council, she joins influential leaders David M. Rubenstein, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Dr Charles Chen Yidan, and others.

“We congratulate Dr Moloi-Motsepe for joining this group of global leaders,” reads a statement shared by the Motsepe Foundation Trustees. “This network, and the opportunity to reinforce global affiliations, will amplify the work of the Motsepe Foundation. This is most applicable to the Motsepe Foundation efforts in education, as we search for innovative pathways to close gaps in accessing quality education and skills that will make Africa’s youth globally competitive.” 

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