Francois Bonnici

Biography

Dr François Bonnici is public health physician, professor, social change practitioner and foundation leader with over two decades of experience working across multiple countries, and sectors. Deeply rooted in context and frontline work, he has worked extensively with civil society, movements, foundations, governments, multilaterals and business in progressive and catalytic partnerships that seek to advance the work of primary actors, and understand the organizational practices of “systems work” towards more transformative social change.

He currently serves as Director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, an international foundation dedicated to advancing the most impactful and innovative models of social change, and concurrently as Head of Social Innovation at the World Economic Forum. He was Founding Director of the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation at the University of Cape Town from 2011-2018, establishing a globally recognized institute for knowledge, capacity and action advancing the discourse and systemic impact of social innovation in Africa.

He is the co-author of the upcoming book, The Systems Work of Social Change, and is an adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town. He has been recognised as an Archbishop Tutu African Leadership Fellow, Rhodes Scholar and Associate Fellow of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford. He was a founding board member of the Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education in South Africa, and a board member of the Social Innovation Exchange.