Bridgitte Backman

Bridgitte Backman holds a B Sc. (Chemistry) from the University of Cape Town in South Africa and an MBA from the Rotterdam School of Management in the Netherlands with an exchange final semester at the Haas Business School, University of California at Berkeley in the USA. She is a fellow of the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership. She has worked across industry sectors and business functions as diverse as Development Finance, Energy (Oil and Gas), FMCG (Food and Beverages), Elections Management, Sustainability, Corporate Affairs and Public Policy, General Management, Innovation, Supply Chain and HR. She serves on the UNGC Network South Africa’s board where she gets to live and breathe sustainability as well as foster cross business collaboration for the greater good at a country level. She previously lectured for Duke Corporate Education via Rhodes University. Sustainability is not just a passion of hers but rather an ethos. She firmly believes that “together is better” and is persistent and consistent in the pursuit of unlocking and synergising effective multi stakeholder partnerships across e.g. government, academia, society and business. During the Cape Town “Day Zero” severe drought, she was the executive sponsor for the Distell Group, integrating not only a company manufacturing response but driving a holistic employee and community approach and solution.