Ronak Gopaldas
South Africa
Occupational Information
Occupation: Political economist
Occupational Position: Director at Signal Risk; Fellow at the Centre for African Management and Markets at GIBS
Professional History
Ronak Gopaldas is a political economist, “pracademic”, writer and speaker. His work focuses on the intersection of politics, economics and business in Africa. He is a currently a Director at Signal Risk and a Fellow at the Centre for African Management and Markets at the Gordon Institute of Business Science. He was previously the Head of Country Risk at Rand Merchant Bank. Ronak is an alumnus of the Asian Forum on Global Governance as well as the young African Leadership Initiative.
In 2016, he delivered a powerful TEDx talk entitled Embracing Africa: Beyond the Binaries. A prominent voice in print, radio and television in both the local and international media, Ronak has made frequent appearances on the likes of CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera and CNBC Africa, and publishes regular opinion and analysis pieces. He has spoken at several the world’s top universities and at leading Africa-focused policy and business conferences as a moderator, panelist and keynote speaker.
Qualifications
BCom in Philosophy, Politics and Economics
BCom (Honours) in Financial Analysis and Portfolio Management from the University of Cape Town
MSc in Finance (Economic Policy) from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London
Programs
2019 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow
