Lulu Gwagwa (50)
Alternate Director to Mr. R.T. Dalais


Dr Lulu Gwagwa has a Masters degree in Town and Regional Planning from the University of Natal, an MSc (cum laude) from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a PhD from the University College, London. She also holds various certificates on leadership development, corporate governance and executive coaching programmes.

In 1995 Lulu was appointed deputy director general in the Department of Public Works to establish the National Public Works Programme. Amongst her responsibilities was to initiate the transformation of the construction industry and the establishment of the emerging contractor development programme.

Lulu recently completed a five-year term as the CEO of the IDT, where she was tasked with its transformation from a grant-making to an implementation management agency. By the time she left, the IDT had a programme portfolio of over R1bn and had been appointed by Cabinet to support, coordinate and implement the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme. This gave Lulu the opportunity to work closely with all provinces and municipalities. Prior to assuming an executive role at Lereko, she also consulted for government on development planning, transformation and institutional capacity building.

During the last ten years Lulu has travelled extensively, and has worked at strategic level with various multilateral, bilateral and private sector organisations.

Lulu is a shareholder and an executive director of Lereko. She also serves as a non-executive on the boards of the Airports Company of South Africa, FirstRand, the South African Post Office, the Development Bank of Southern Africa and the Mineworkers Investment Company. Lulu has also served on various government commissions, including the Commission for the Delineation and Demarcation of Provincial Boundaries and the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Local Government Transformation. Lulu was a finalist in the 2002 Nedbank Business Woman of the Year.