ABOUT MTHUNZI MDWABA

He is the founder, President and CEO of TZoro IBC, an investment and business consultancy. Until November 2010, Mr Mdwaba held the post of Group Chairman & CEO of Torque IT, South Africa. Under his leadership Torque IT won numerous business awards annually, including “Cisco Partner of the Year” for 7 years in a row. Mr Mdwaba has also personally won numerous business awards, nominated by his peers, including IT personality of the year (2004), and businessman of the year by two organisations (2009) among numerous others. Within organized business in South Africa he has held numerous leadership positions. He has held the position of Chairman of Employer Organisations, namely, the BITF (Black Information Technology Forum) made up of black IT professionals in South Africa and for two terms was President of the ITA (Information Technology Association), made up of all the major IT & Telecoms companies such as Cisco, SAP and Siemens. He subsequently held the positions of firstly, Vice-President for Professionals, made up of all members of the professional organisations of BUSA (Business Unity South Africa) and, subsequently, Vice-President of the Uni-sectoral Sector, made up of the technology, hospitality, banking and mining sectors. He was until recently, a board member of the Business Women’s Association in South Africa. He currently holds many strategic positions within the global employer arena, including that of International Organization of Employers (IOE) Vice President for the ILO, making him the Global Spokesman for Employers in the ILO and consequently, the Vice Chairman of the ILO’s Governing Body. He is also a member of the B20 Task Force on Employment; Chairman of the CSR & Business and Human Rights Policy Working Group of the IOE; Chairman of the University of the Western Cape, as well as Chairman of Productivity SA.

Mthunzi, President & CEO of TZoro IBC, the first African Global Spokesperson for Employers in almost a 100 years of the ILO’s existence, and consequently Vice-Chairman of the Governing Body,started out as an entertainment practitioner, working for Kallmeyer & Strime Attorneys and later worked in the music/entertainment industry at the highest level, running the industry body made up of producers/record companies. He also ran an Independent record label (launched Kabelo’s solo career with the Pantsula for Life album and, inter alia, won the license rights for Craig David) before he turned to the ICT industry. He built his career as a serial entrepreneur and was until November 2010, the Group CEO of Torque IT(since 2001),a world class company dedicated to computer technical training solutions(led a team that built it)and was appointed Deputy CEO of the Group(following the acquisition of Torque IT). The group was a listed entity on the JSE. He was responsible for 90% of the operations, with 7 MDs reporting to him, including entities in San Francisco, California in the US(with clients such as Cisco, Wells Fargo, Union Bank). He has various passive investments in the property, advertising, IT & Telecoms industries.

Previously,one of the Vice Presidents at BUSA( Business Unity South Africa, he is a Board Member of the IOE, based in Geneva, Switzerland. He is one of 28 Commissioners (ex-officio)on the Global Commission for the Future of work co-chaired by the Presidents of South Africa and Sweden.

He is the Chairman of Productivity SA.   Previously Chairman of Council at the University of the Western Cape(UWC)until the end of his term in June 2018, he has subsequently been appointed as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University.  Born in the rural village of Coville-Herschel in the Eastern Cape, in the Republic of South Africa, he is a very keen cyclist,has three kids(two sons, Mlungisi and Litha and one daughter, Nina) and two grandchildren, Keiko & Kenzo.