CDE Advisory Board
Simon Ridley
Chairman of the board
Simon Ridley attended the University of Natal where he obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1980 and a Higher Diploma in Accounting in 1981. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1982. In 1994 he completed an Advanced Management Programme at Oxford University. He held various finance positions at Momentum Life, United Bank and ABSA before joining Standard Bank in 1999 as Director, Finance and Operations in Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank (now Standard Bank: Corporate and Investment Banking). He was appointed Chief Financial Officer of the Standard Bank Group in 2002 and retired as Group Financial Director of Standard Bank in 2016. He is currently a non-executive director of several companies and entities affiliated to the Standard Bank group.
Ann Bernstein
Executive director
In addition, CDE has a special focus on the role of business and its contribution to development. Ann was a member of the Transition Team and then the Board of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (1994 – 2001). In 2005 she was a Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy, Washington DC. In 2007 she joined the Board of the Brenthurst Foundation. In 2008 and 2009 she was an invited faculty member at the World Economic Forum in Davos and participates in their Global Agenda Council’s Initiative.
Her book, The Case for Business in Developing Economies was published by Penguin in 2010. She is a regular public speaker and has been published by newspapers around the country, often appearing on radio and TV. Her many other publications and books include Migration and Refugee Policies (with M. Weiner, London, 1999), Business and Democracy: Cohabitation or Contradiction? (with P.L. Berger, London, 1998), and Policy Making in A New Democracy: South Africa’s Challenges for the 21st century (CDE,1999).
Antony Charles Ball
Board member
Antony Ball obtained a B. Comm and B.Comm (Honours) from the University of Cape Town, and Master of Philosophy (Management Studies) from Oxford University (Rhodes Scholar). He is a qualified Chartered Accountant.
Antony completed his articles with Deloitte and founded The Strategy Group, a unit within Deloitte advising clients on Strategy and Organisation. In 1990 he co-founded Capital Partners, South Africa’s first independent private equity firm. In 1998, Capital Partners was merged with the investment banking interests of Capital Alliance Holdings to form Brait. Antony acted as its CEO until he assumed a Non-Executive role in 2011. During this time, he played a key role in the raising, management and organisation of Brait’s private equity funds and led numerous investments covering industrial services, technology, manufacturing, media, agricultural services, chemicals.
After relinquishing his executive position at Brait, he expanded his business, philanthropic and personal interests. Antony is the director of the Centre for Development and Enterprise, a leading policy think tank based in Johannesburg. He serves as a senior advisor to J.P. Morgan with respect to their Africa, Middle East and European businesses, and he is a director of Ascension Partners. Furthermore, he is a Non-Executive Director of Altron Limited, PPC Limited and a Chairman of Value Capital Partners.
Brian Figaji
Board member
Prof Brian Figaji is the Chairman of I&J Fishing. He was Chairman of WESGRO – a Western Cape Agency that promotes Tourism, Trade and Investment for the Province. At the end of 2004 he retired as the Vice Chancellor of the Peninsula Technikon in Cape Town. He serves on a variety of education-related trusts and NGOs, and he served as South Africa’s representative on the Executive Board at UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation). Before joining Peninsula Technikon Prof Figaji spent ten years working as a consulting civil engineer and as a site agent for a large civil engineering construction company. He also taught at a high school in Cape Town for a short while.
Prof Figaji is a Fellow of the SA Institute of Civil Engineers, a Fellow of the SA Society for Professional Engineers, a Fellow of the Academy of Engineering and a member of the SA Academy of Science. He served two terms as a member of the Council on Higher Education (CHE). Prof Figaji is a graduate of the universities of the Western Cape, Cape Town, UNISA and Harvard. He has also been awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Coventry in the UK and California State University.
Daniel Mminele
Board member
Daniel was appointed to the Nedbank Board as an independent non-executive director on 1 May 2023 and as chair the following month. He is a former chair of Alexander Forbes, former CEO of Absa and served two terms as Deputy Governor of the South African Reserve Bank until his resignation in June 2019, having joined the SARB in September 1999.
Daniel also served as Head of the Presidential Climate Finance Task Team in 2022 and he is a non-executive director at YES, the Youth Employment Service.
Fani Titi
Board member
As Investec Group chief executive, Fani leads an international banking and wealth business with primary operations in South Africa and the United Kingdom and a presence in financial capitals across the globe. Fani’s professional involvement with Investec began in 2002 when he joined the Investec Limited board. He went on to serve as non-executive chair of the Investec Group from 2011 until 2018, then as joint CEO, alongside Hendrik du Toit, in the lead-up to the successful demerger of Investec’s asset management business, which was separately listed as Ninety One in March 2020.
Prior to his executive role at Investec, Fani was a founding member of the private investment group Kagiso Trust Investments Limited and later co-founded Kagiso Media Limited where, as chief executive officer, he led the public offering on the JSE. He subsequently founded the Tiso Group, where he served as executive chair until 2008 and oversaw the merger of the two investment entities to form Kagiso Tiso Holdings.
In 2019, Fani was one of only two South African CEOs to be invited by the Secretary General of the United Nations to join the Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD) CEO alliance, tasked with identifying and promoting financing solutions in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
A mathematician by training, Fani holds a BSc Hons (cum laude) from the University of Fort Hare, an MA in mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from Wits Business School.
Ian Liddle
Board member
Ian joined Allan Gray in 2001 as an equity analyst after several years as a management consultant. He managed a portion of client equity and balanced portfolios and was the chief investment officer from 2008 until 2016. He is now chairman of Allan Gray Proprietary Limited.
He holds a Bachelor of Business Science from the University of Cape Town (UCT) and is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder.
Ishmael Mkhabela
Board member
Ishmael Mkhabela founded the Interfaith Community Development Association. He was a co-facilitator, organiser and leader of Dinokeng Scenarios Public Engagement Programme. He served as the Chairperson of National Housing Board, Johannesburg Social Housing Company (JOSHCO) and others. He currently is chairperson of the Steve Biko Foundation and the Central Johannesburg Partnership. He serves as Trustee of many organisations, including the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital, Finmark Trust, and the Centre for Development and Enterprise. He received SA Council of Churches Award for selfless contribution to the South African Struggle for Democracy.
Mamokete Lijane
Board member
Mamokete Lijane is a Strategist in Global Markets at Standard Bank CIB, with 22 years’ experience as an analyst in financial markets. Prior to Standard Bank, she worked at Absa CIB and Aluwani Capital Partners as a Macro Strategist. Her career spans all areas of non-equity investment research, including macroeconomics, credit and rates on both the buys and the sell sides of the investment business. Mamokete has a deep interest in the intersection between public policy, economics and financial markets.
Monde Nkosi
Board member
Monde Nkosi is an executive director of Value Capital Partners. He is also a non-executive director of several private and public companies including Lesaka Technologies, which is a financial technology business listed on the Nasdaq, and ADvTECH, which is a private education business listed on the JSE.
Monde holds a Bachelor of Business Science from the University of Cape Town, a Master of Arts in Education from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education and a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.
Sipho Nkosi
Board member
Sipho Nkosi is the chairman of Talent 10 Holdings, he founded Eyesizwe Holdings and served as CEO before its merger into Exxaro in 2006. With 20 years’ experience in the mining and industrial sectors, he sits on a number of boards. Sipho holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Zululand, an Honours degree in Commerce (Economics) from the University of South Africa and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts in the United States. Sipho joined the CDE board in 2017.
Wandile Sihlobo
Board member
Wandile Sihlobo is chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz) and a respected analyst and commentator, particularly on the economy and land policy.
Sihlobo is a columnist for Business Day, Fin24 and Farmers Weekly magazine. He is a Commissioner at the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) and a member of the South African Agricultural Economics Association. He has previously served as an economist at Grain South Africa (Grain SA).
Sihlobo holds a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from Stellenbosch University.
In 2018, Agricultural Writers SA named Sihlobo an Agriculturalist of the Year.
Zeblon Vilakazi
Board member
Professor Zeblon Zenzele Vilakazi FRS assumed the role of Vice-Chancellor and Principal at Wits University in January 2021, following his tenure as Vice-Principal and DVC Research. Prof. Vilakazi prioritizes societal impact through global knowledge advancement and the cultivation of principled leadership among graduates.
His career trajectory includes notable positions such as Group Executive for Research and Development at the Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (NECSA) and directorship at iThemba LABS. He earned his PhD from Wits in 1998, subsequently undertaking a post-doctoral fellowship at CERN in Geneva.
Transitioning to academia at UCT in 1999, he spearheaded South Africa’s inaugural experimental high-energy physics research group, focusing on the CERN-ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Prof. Vilakazi’s international engagements include roles with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics.
Recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2010, he holds membership in the Academy of Science of South Africa. Prof. Vilakazi’s contributions to nuclear and high-energy physics are documented in numerous refereed articles, and he is a sought-after speaker at conferences and seminars.
In May 2022, Prof. Vilakazi was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, joining a prestigious cohort of scientists. His induction into this esteemed academy aligns him with luminaries in the field, including Basil Schonland and Phillip Tobias. Prof. Vilakazi’s trajectory reflects a commitment to excellence in research, education, and global scientific collaboration, positioning him as a leading figure in academia and scientific inquiry.
In 2018, Agricultural Writers SA named Sihlobo an Agriculturalist of the Year.
Laurie Dippenaar
Patron
Laurie Dippenaar is one of the founders of the FirstRand Group which is one of the eight largest companies on the JSE Securities Exchange. The Group employs just over 54 000 people, has total assets well in excess of R1 trillion and a market capitalisation of approximately R350 billion. Laurie retired as Chairman of FirstRand on 31 March 2018 after a tenure of almost 10 years. He will be devoting more time to the investments of the Dippenaar Family Office.
He is also the non-executive Chairman of OUTsurance and serves as a non-executive director on the boards of two listed entities, RMB Holdings and Rand Merchant Insurance Holdings.
He is also on the governing body of the University of Pretoria. In 2021 he resigned as CDE’s chairman after serving the board for nearly 15 years.
He holds a Masters degree in Accounting from the University of Pretoria and is a qualified chartered accountant. Laurie is married to Estelle and they have three children.
