Political Risk Analyst
Based: Pretoria
Dr Mzukisi Qobo is a leadership consultant, political risk analyst and a writer. His speaking topics are transformational leadership, macro-political trends in South Africa, and global change.
Mzukisi writes a weekly column for the Business Day where he reflects on the state of leadership in South Africa as well as on the changing nature of the global political economy, with a focus on the BRICS countries.
He is passionate about empowering the next generation of leaders who are values-based and with a global perspective. He stresses the importance of understanding the intersection of local, macro- and global forces in managing change. Mzukisi views social change through the lens of leadership. He blends the personal and the systemic into a coherent and powerful message that inspires action towards meaningful change in society in the spheres of civic, political and business leadership.
As a political risk consultant, he has advised clients in the mining industry and the financial services sector on government regulation and policy; managing corporate-government relations; and improving reputational leadership. He has previously served as chief director at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), where he drafted South Africa’s trade policy and strategy framework. He has also fulfilled roles as head of Emerging Powers and Global Challenges programme at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) where he worked on the involvement of the BRICS in Africa.
Mzukisi has trained Congolese diplomats on commercial diplomacy in Kinshasa; as well as Ethiopian Ambassadors on the same theme in Addis Ababa, as part of a resource team of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. He is a board member of the Centre for Mediation in Africa at the University of Pretoria.
He teaches International Political Economy at the University of Pretoria. Mzukisi obtained his PhD from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom; MA from the University of Stellenbosch; and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Cape Town.
