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roughout the digital transformation journey – which, true to the ‘world in beta’ concept, will never end – it remains important that the learning and agenda are both explicitly and continuously articulated and driven by the leadership Nothing
goes untouched: employees, culture, brand, operations – all are energised and empowered by digital and inspired by innovation, while the business grows and becomes more sustainable and relevant for tomorrow
Liesbeth Botha started her career in 1989 as a Professor in the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering at Pretoria University, after completing a PhD at Carnegie Mellon University in the US.
In 2002 she joined the executive management of Stellenbosch University, with the portfolio of Innovation and Commercialisation. In this role, she led the digital transformation of the university’s IT enterprise, in the eCampus project. She was also responsible for the strategy and policy regarding innovation, and commercialisation of intellectual property. She is the founder of InnovUS, the holding company of Stellenbosch University’s commercial ventures.
In 2007, she became the executive director of Materials Science and Manufacturing at the Council for Scienti c and Industrial Research, where she led many national technological innovation programmes, funded by the Department of Science and Technology. These included agship projects in titanium, hydrogen and biocomposites.
After thirty years in academia and the public sector, she joined PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as a partner in 2014. She is responsible for the digital transformation strategy at PwC Africa, and serves on the executive of PwC Africa. She is a champion for innovation, data analytics, the use of arti cial intelligence in decision support systems and everything digital. She believes in entrepreneurship to build African economies.
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22 The Corporate Report
‘Digital’ – what does it really mean for business?