Jayaseelan Naidoo

Jayaseelan Naidoo, Director J&J Group.

"In addition to serving as Chairman of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), Jay Naidoo also chairs the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN); the J&J Development Trust and is deputy chair and trustee of the Lovelife Trust.

"He is a member of the International Telecommunications Union Board of Directors and serves on the Global Health Advisory Board of the Clinton Global Initiative."

"He was active in the South African Students Organization led by Steve Biko and as a community organizer and union leader (Sweet, Food and Allied Workers Union). In 1985 he became General Secretary of the Congress of African Trade Unions (COSATU) and was re-elected for three terms.

"His work with COSATU and his commitment to bringing about social and political freedom in alliance with the now governing African National Congress (ANC) Party, led to his appointment as coordinator of the Reconstruction and Development Programmed (RDP) in the 1993-4 election campaign.

"Subsequently, he held this portfolio as Minister of the RDP in the Office of President Mandela. In 1996 he became Minister of Communications, overseeing the largest privatization in South African (Telkom SA).

"Together with other telecommunications ministers throughout Africa he helped set the African Connection, a policy framework adopted by over 44 countries for creating regional markets and projects.

"At the end of his term in South Africa’s first democratic parliament, Mr Naidoo left politics for the private sector to promote the expansion of an information backbone for the continent’s shared vision of an African Renaissance. Other positions he holds are on the Board of Directors of Telecom, an advisory body to the Secretary General of the International Telecommunications Union, a member of the Global Health Advisory Panel of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Deputy Chairman of the Lovelife Trust, a non governmental organization committed to fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic in South Africa.

"He is the recipient of many awards including the Chevaliers de la Legion d’Honneur from the French Government. Jay is married to journalist and writer Ms Lucie Page and he considers his three beautiful children his greatest achievement."


 * Champion, Palaeontological Scientific Trust