As we continue to celebrate 15 years of impact at MINDS, we had the opportunity to interview Professor Bhekinkosi Moyo, who is currently the Adjunct Professor at the University of Witwatersrand and Direcotar at Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment (CAPSI). He reflected on how the organisation began, not as an established institution, but as an idea that needed to be tested, shaped, and built with intention. Through his recollections, Prof Moyo offers a valuable window into the early thinking, partnerships, and milestones that laid the foundation for what MINDS has become today.
The MINDS journey started when Dr Nkosana Moyo began exploring the idea of creating an initiative that would operate like a think tank in Southern Africa, bringing focus to development issues through research, analysis, and high-level engagement. At the time, Dr Moyo was working at the African Development Bank, and through conversations with Ms. Graça Machel, who had recently established the Graça Machel Trust, the concept began to take clearer shape. However, while the vision was compelling, the practical questions remained: What already existed? How should such an institution be structured? Where should it be located? And how could it be made sustainable?
Prof Moyo was commissioned by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, where he led the feasibility work alongside a small team of collaborators. The goal of the study was straightforward but significant: to establish whether the proposed institution of MINDS was going to be both desirable and feasible, and to outline the steps required to create it. The study ultimately affirmed both and became a critical turning point.
Thereafter, a pivotal consultative meeting hosted at the Nelson Mandela Foundation offices, where the feasibility study was presented and interrogated by a room filled with leading African thinkers and practitioners. Think tanks from South Africa were invited, alongside prominent academics and policy voices. It was during this convening, he explains, that the idea gained formal endorsement and the institution began to take its first clear form.
The meeting addressed several foundational questions: What should the institution be called? What mandate should it carry? Where should it be located? How should it be governed? The multiple naming options were debated, but the group ultimately settled on the Mandela Institute for Development Studies (MINDS). There was also intentional clarity on the mandate: the institution would serve as a regional and continental platform that brings together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to address Africa’s development challenges through dialogue, research, analysis, and advocacy.
The question of location was also carefully considered. Prof Moyo notes that there were debates about whether MINDS should be based in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, or elsewhere. Ultimately, South Africa was selected, and the groundwork for governance began to take shape with Dr Nkosana Moyo and Graça Machel positioned as the initial torchbearers of the institution.
But endorsement alone did not mean operational readiness. Prof Moyo points out that the next critical challenge was funding and institutional support. He recalls that the first funding for MINDS came through TrustAfrica and the Southern Africa Trust, where he was working at the time. Beyond funding, the Southern Africa Trust went as far as hosting MINDS in its early stages supporting the institutional building process, including registration, policies, and administrative structures. The organisation was effectively incubated during this phase, with key individuals appointed to establish systems and build the organisation’s operational foundation.
As MINDS matured, it transitioned into its next stages, moving into shared office space with the Graça Machel Trust and gradually building its team and programming footprint. This period saw early research work funded and supported, including a major project focused on African heritage, reflecting MINDS’ commitment to exploring how culture and knowledge systems can contribute to development.
Looking back, Prof Moyo believes one of the most important achievements is simply that MINDS was created because at the time, institutions that intentionally combined both policy engagement and research, while operating at a continental level, were extremely limited. He also highlights the unique strength of MINDS’ founding leadership: the pairing of Dr Nkosana Moyo’s strategic thinking and institutional experience with Graça Machel’s stature, credibility, and convening power created a rare combination capable of turning an idea into an enduring institution.
He further reflects on MINDS’ signature initiatives over the years, particularly its high-level dialogues, which brought critical minds into one room to engage key development issues. Prof Moyo describes these convenings as innovative platforms that helped galvanise thought leadership and deepen development conversations across the continent.
Prof Moyo also points to MINDS’ youth and scholarship work as a defining legacy, not only for supporting education across borders, but for building a movement of young Africans connected by shared values and purpose. He notes that the power of the scholarship programme lies in its ability to immerse young leaders in different African contexts, build pan-African networks, and shape a mindset rooted in collaboration and continental unity.
As MINDS enters its next chapter, Prof Moyo’s message is clear: institutions like MINDS matter and they must be sustained, strengthened, and scaled. The outcomes already achieved are significant, but the broader vision remains even more compelling: what becomes possible if we multiply this model of leadership development, knowledge-building, and pan-African collaboration across the continent?
Through Prof Moyo’s reflections, we are reminded that MINDS began with a bold question and was built through consistency, intentionality, and the belief that Africa’s future must be shaped by Africans themselves.
