Dr Kabo Matlho & Professor Alan Win on ethical supply chains as instruments of social infrastructure

Hélène Malandin (0:00)

Hello, and welcome to What ELS? Ethical Leadership Stories, a podcast born from a deep conviction, the conviction that ethical leadership is a tool that we can use with much intentionality to create pathways towards better futures. What is ethical leadership? Ethical leadership is about making decisions for the common good. It is about navigating ethical dilemmas with integrity. It is about living by our values. What else? We're here to share collections of ethical leadership stories, true, humble and inspiring stories of values-led leaders from Aotearoa, New Zealand and the rest of the world. My name is Hélène Malandin and it is my pleasure to be your host for this podcast. What ELS? is a collaboration between the Brian Picot Chair in Ethical Leadership, Arita Hi, at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and Pocketknife, an advisory firm I'm a director of, that offers pragmatic and creative guidance to people navigating change. I hope you enjoy listening to the episodes as much as I'm loving conducting the interviews with our fantastic guest speakers. This episode is part of Transformative Ideas for Better Futures, a collection that puts the spotlight on innovators and practitioners who are the forefront of the radical change our societies need. Each one of them has applied and experimented with a highly innovative and bold concept, model or framework that has proven its impact and potential for long-term systems transformation. We've invited them to What ELS? to hear their story of innovation, hands-on practice and action learning, with a hope to inspire others to follow in their footsteps and contribute to a fairer, more equitable and more sustainable world.

Today, I'm excited to be joined by Dr. Kabo Matlho and Professor Alan Win. Dr. Kabo Matlho is a medical scientist, a public health and community health practitioner. He has deep experience across health promotion, prevention and system level responses to HIV, sexual and reproductive health, and broader well-being challenges in sub-Saharan Africa. His work bridges policy, practice and community engagement with a strong focus on culturally grounded, evidence-based interventions that improve access, dignity and long-term outcomes. A passionate social justice advocate, Kabo works to empower people and strengthen communities. With HERO4Humanity, he aims to bring together partners from across sectors to develop practical solutions to complex social challenges. Professor Alan Win is a New Zealand-based expert in logistics, supply chain management and strategy cooperations, with extensive experience spanning academia, industry and international consulting. He served as a professor at the University of Sydney and has taught executive and postgraduate programs at leading institutions across New Zealand, Australia, China and the Middle East. Alongside his academic career, Professor Win has advised organizations on supply chain strategy, logistics transformation, innovation and organizational change. His work bridges research and practice, helping businesses improve operational performance, resilience and competitiveness in increasingly complex global markets. It is my pleasure to welcome Kabo and Alan on the podcast today. A warm welcome to you both.

And Kabo, I'm turning to you first, so you can introduce yourself for our listeners. Can you tell us a little bit more about your journey and what maybe led you to meet Alan and to start HERO4Humanity?

Kabo Matlho (3:22)

Thank you. Thank you, Alan, for that lovely introduction. I genuinely think in the bio you have captured the essence of who I am. I often say that everything in my life has simply been collecting tools, you know, whether that's the pursuit of medicine, public health, research policy or working with communities across marginalized communities, particularly sub-Saharan Africa.

They have all been tools helping me to pursue, you know, one thing that has remained constant throughout my life, and that's social justice. People often ask me what I do, and my answer has always remained the same, and it's been that I'm a social justice advocate. I do say that because social justice, to me, isn't just a profession. It's really the lens through which I see the world, you know. So the pursuit of medicine, for example, gave me one set of tools. Public health gave me another. And when you think about research that I did as well and that I continue to pursue, it also gave me another. So working alongside communities has always given me another perspective, and none of those disciplines exist in isolation if you think about it. Together, they have shaped the way I think about people, systems and opportunities that we create for one another. When I look back, I realized that that way of thinking didn't begin when I met Alan and people like Alan. It certainly didn't begin when we founded HERO4Humanity. It actually began much, much earlier. For example, I remember very well being in junior secondary school in Botswana. We were all here, I would say, about 12, 13 years old. And I remember having classmates and age-mates. I remember girls around my age falling pregnant.