Universities South Africa (USAf) mourns the untimely loss of a truly entrepreneurial academic, someone who embodied the spirit that USAf, through the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) programme, is working hard to instil in students, academics, and the executive leadership at South Africa’s public universities.

Professor Keolebogile Shirley Motaung had recently been appointed to the prestigious FALF-FREF-Mandela Research Chair in Entrepreneurship and Financial Inclusion, created at the beginning of 2025 and located at Nelson Mandela University for the next five years.  FALF, which stands for Female Academic Leaders Fellowship (FALF) NPC, is a non-profit company seeking to develop a pipeline of women academic leaders, using an intersectional lens to ensure no demographic group is left behind. FALF, founded by Wits University Chancellor Dr Judy Dlamini in 2020, established the position of Research Chair on Entrepreneurship and Financial Inclusion with funding support from the FirstRand Empowerment Foundation (FREF).

Before this appointment, Professor Motaung had held several positions at the Durban University of Technology from November 2020, culminating as the Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Engagement until 31 October 2024. Before her appointment at DUT, she had served for many years at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), where her last position was Assistant Dean: Postgraduate Studies, Research, Innovation and Engagement in the Faculty of Science.

A biomedical scientist by profession, Professor Motaung shot to fame in 2015 when her research on medicinal plants growing in Limpopo confirmed the plants’ anti-inflammatory properties, inspiring her creation of La-Africa Soother, a natural anti-inflammatory ointment proven efficacious in bone and cartilage treatment.  Based on this research, Professor  Motaung and others co-founded Global Health BioTech (Pty) Ltd, a spin-off from TUT, in 2016.

Her innovation won her the Gauteng Accelerator Programme (GAP) Biosciences Competition in 2015, which came with a 12-month tenure on the BioPark Business Incubator programme.

That accomplishment went on to win her these other awards:

  • The 2017 FemBioBiz Pitching Den award, which came with an all-expenses-paid trip to Finland to upscale her business.
  • The Biotech Fundi Research Award in 2017.
  • Gauteng Legislature’s Community Heroine award of the VITA BASADI Awards in 2017.
  • The 2017/2018 National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) South32 Awards under the category: Innovation Awards: Corporate Organisation.
  • The Black Management Forum (BMF) in partnership with Standard Bank Top Inventor of the Year Award 2018.
  • The Distinguished Woman Scientist under the category Research and Innovation, South African Women in Science Awards (SAWISA) in 2018.
  • The #Inspiring Fifty SA Women Award in 2018.

In January 2023, Professor Motaung was appointed a member of the National Intellectual Property Management Office (NIPMO) Advisory Board for a two-year term that would have ended on October 31, 2025.

Her contribution to academia

While speaking at the USAf Entrepreneurship Lekgotla in 2019, Professor Motaung challenged the predominant approach to developing post-graduate research proposals, which typically required the research title, background and justification; the research problem/question; methodology; ethical considerations; resources and references.

In what she proposed as an innovative framework, then, she said she had substituted the research background for a business concept. In place of the research problem, she suggested a value proposition: “What problem is my student looking to solve? What need will their research satisfy? How well is the envisaged service or product aligned with prospective customer needs?” She had also included in this framework a market and industry analysis (customer segments), key partners (emphasising inter- and multi-disciplinarity) and competitors. Also included were financial projections (revenue stream) and intellectual property (IP).

Professor Motaung argued that this approach was essential for transforming graduates’ traditional thinking — from merely studying to secure employment to engaging in research, addressing societal issues around them, and, in the process, establishing businesses and becoming job creators.

“The university sector has lost a bona fide entrepreneurial academic and an exemplar we sincerely looked up to,” Dr Phethiwe Matutu, USAf’s CEO, said today. “At the time of her passing, we looked forward to her official launch as the FALF-FREF-Mandela Research Chair in Entrepreneurship and Financial Inclusion at Nelson Mandela University, anticipating greater contributions from the trailblazer that she was in science and entrepreneurship. Her passing marks a deep loss, not just to her family but to the entrepreneurship development programme at public universities.”

Professor Motaung is widely celebrated for her transformative role in democratising the commercialisation of research. She was living proof that a researcher/academic can launch a successful business from their own innovations. Dr Norah Clarke, USAf’s first Director of Entrepreneurship until December 2022, reflected: “Keo did not live to please people. She danced to her own tune — a gutsy woman who challenged stereotypes. Her passing has left a void that will be very difficult to fill”.

“Although she has departed too soon, we take comfort in the wisdom she imparted to her many mentees at the Tshwane and Durban universities of technology, and to the many academics and student entrepreneurs she touched through speaking at the annual EDHE Lekgotla, including at the recent 2025 event, and at numerous other academic conferences over the years.

“At Universities South Africa, Professor Motaung will be remembered as the feisty scientist who boldly declared her aspiration to retire in financial comfort,” Dr Matutu stated.  “We will sorely miss the perspectives of this great visionary, trailblazer and giant intellectual.

“May her departed soul rest in perfect eternal peace.”

Media inquiries: ‘Mateboho Green (0728074677)