Ambassador Nozipho January-Bardill has extensive experience in both the local and international public and private sectors. She is an Independent Non-Executive Director on the boards of AngloGold Ashanti and Mercedes Benz South Africa (MBSA), and chairs the Social, Ethics and Sustainability board Sub-Committees of both companies. She is also a member of the MTN Foundation and was appointed the Chairperson of Council of the Nelson Mandela University in October 2017.
Nozipho is chair the Interim Board of the newly registered UN Global Compact Local Network in South Africa and a board member of Shared Value Africa Initiative (SVAI) She serves on the boards of 2 NGOs, Phenduka Literacy project and Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy to end violence against women. She was the Acting Chief of Staff of UN Women from Jan 2014 to March 2015 and special adviser to UN Women in SA and New York until the end of 2016.
Before serving as a Director of Companies, Nozipho was appointed to the MTN Group as head of Corporate Affairs and Spokesperson, and served on multiple boards of operations in the MTN footprint. Prior to MTN she was the South African Ambassador to Switzerland, Lichtenstein and the Holy See, and the Deputy Director General of Human Capital Management in the South African Department of Foreign Affairs (now DIRCO).
She served for 12 years as a member of the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and among other publications on race and gender justice, recently contributed a chapter in a Manchester University Press publication (2017) entitled Fifty Years of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination- A Living instrument. Besides her passion for working on issues related to human rights and social justice, Nozipho is active in advancing good corporate governance, ethical conduct and sustainable development, including the promotion of the 2030 Global Goals in all the institutions on which boards she serves.