Josh Adler African Leadership Academy



Josh Adler African Leadership Academy

Josh Adler




South Africa | Vice-President, Global Programs

Josh Adler is a self-proclaimed “social impact explorer”, trying to figure out how best leverage the nexus of business, technology, education and social development to create new and meaningful public value. A former tech entrepreneur, he joined African Leadership Academy in October 2012, and couldn’t be more happy to have done so.

Josh spent over a decade at the heart of South Africa’s digital industry. First as the founder and editor of Music Industry Online, and then as CEO of Prefix Technologies – where he and his partners built some of South Africa’s most relied upon content management and distribution tools. He was also Head of Measurement of the Digital Media and Marketing Association (DMMA) from 2009 to 2011, where he drove the adoption of a more affordable and accessible internet audience currency for the region.



Along the way, Josh has been fortunate to participate in leadership development programs including Brightest Young Minds (2001), Common Purpose (2003), NEXUS at Gibs (2004) and the Cambridge Programme for Sustainable Industry (2007). In 2009, he and his business partner were recognized as “high-impact” entrepreneurs by Endeavor.

In 2011, Josh left the world of business to study International Development at the University of Geneva’s IOMBA programme in Switzerland. While there, he found his interests focus upon the role of business in society and measuring development impact, particularly education. He is now a strong Open Data advocate. Before joining ALA, Josh worked briefly for UNDP’s Africa Facility for Inclusive Markets, looking at inclusive business opportunities within the supply chains of the retail and mining sectors.

Josh currently serves on the boards of the companies he founded and as well as a few young start-ups, and is a trustee to the Buyani Education Trust

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