Ntswaki Kutumela is the General Counsel for Unilever Africa, where she leads legal strategy across Southern, East and West Africa markets and multiple business groups, including Home Care, Personal Care, Beauty & Wellbeing and Foods. In this role, she partners closely with regional and global leadership teams to enable sustainable growth, manage risk, and support Unilever’s transformation agenda across the continent.
As a senior legal and corporate affairs executive with over a decade, she has experience across the FMCG, telecommunications, development finance, and professional services sectors. She has held leadership roles across a range of listed companies, building a reputation as a strategic business partner and governance leader across complex, multi-jurisdictional environments.
Before joining Unilever, Ntswaki served as General Counsel at Tiger Brands, where she led legal strategy across six business units. Prior to that, she was Legal and Corporate Affairs Director for Diageo’s Africa emerging markets region, covering 27 markets and supporting the company’s growth, regulatory, and stakeholder agendas. Ntswaki is also a strong advocate for women’s economic empowerment and legal reform across Africa. She contributes to pan-African policy platforms focused on advancing gender-responsive legislation and interventions, including initiatives aligned with the African Union’s Beijing+30 frameworks.
She holds an MPhil in International Business from the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), an LLB from the University of Johannesburg, and has completed executive education programmes at the University of Oxford focused on sustainable corporate leadership.