Thubelihle Sithole is the Founder and Managing Director of Great Albatross Research and Advisory, a research and advisory practice he established in 2015 and has led across South Africa and nine Sub-Saharan African markets over the past decade. Operating at the intersection of market intelligence and policy analysis, his advisory work has brought him into sustained engagement with government stakeholders, development finance institutions, and private sector actors navigating the complex, multi-layered policy environments that define Africa’s industrialisation challenge.

His practice has engaged directly with the economic and structural questions the TIPS Forum addresses: the role of research and evidence in shaping industrial and trade policy, the competitive positioning of African markets within shifting global value chains, the dynamics of consumer and institutional market access across the continent, and the governance and compliance frameworks that shape how businesses and institutions operate in regulated African environments