The Faculty of Management Sciences at the Durban University of Technology will award an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Management Sciences in Business Administration to renowned businessman, Mr Sipho Nkosi. The honorary doctorate will be conferred at the DUT 2025 Spring Graduation ceremony, which will be held at the Olive Convention Centre, Durban on Friday, 19 September 2025.
The awarding of the honorary degree is in recognition of Mr Nkosi’s significant contribution and stellar accomplishments towards entrepreneurship, business leadership, green and renewable energy and then, youth and women empowerment. He will be among the second cohort of graduands from the Faculty of Management Sciences who will grace the graduation stage and be acknowledged for their dedication and achievement, in the closing ceremony of the DUT 2025 Spring Graduation.
Mr Nkosi’s extraordinary and extensive contribution to the South African mining industry continues to benefit South Africa’s growth, development and transformation. He helped found and became the CEO of the new black coal company Eyesizwe Coal in 2001, and following its merger with Kumba’s non-iron ore resources, was appointed CEO of the renamed and JSE re-listed Exxaro Resources Limited in 2006. For this, he was awarded the Deal of the Year Award. In his role as leader of Exxaro until 2016, he oversaw a distribution of wealth to a range of previously disadvantaged South Africans to the tune of more than R6.6 billion in dividends. Today, Exxaro is one of the top three coal producers in the country and one of the largest and foremost black-owned, South African-based diversified resources companies.
In 2022, President Ramaphosa appointed him in an advisory capacity to lead a high-level team mandated to identify and remove regulatory bottlenecks that impede business growth in South Africa. Nkosi currently serves as the Chair of Talent10 Holdings and the Small Business Institute of South Africa, where he continues to champion initiatives that foster entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainable growth. His influence extends across diverse sectors, reflected in his board roles as Chairman of the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra Association and Non- executive Director of Tronox Holdings PLC, as well as Non- executive Director of Sanlam Limited. In higher education, he contributes his expertise as Chairman of the Risk Committee and Vice-Chair of the Council at the University of the Witwatersrand. He has also held several pivotal leadership roles in the South African business landscape.
The Faculty of Management Sciences at DUT is convinced that he could contribute considerable value to the Department of Entrepreneurship Management Studies through, among others, guest lectures and annual entrepreneurship webinars. DUT aims to utilise his passion and experience to assist small businesses to support the university’s entrepreneurial education in line with ENVISION2030’s statement of intent of developing ‘entrepreneurial and adaptive graduates.’
Pictured: DUT Honorary Doctorate recipient, Mr Sipho Nkosi.
Simangele Zuma
