Nneile Nkholise is a 2023 Millennium fellow and chief executive officer of Thola Inc. Nkholise studied toward a master’s in mechanical engineering at Central University of Technology and graduated with a bachelor of science in physics from University of Witwatersrand. Nkholise is a product engineer with a specific focus on design engineering and has eight years of experience in the construction and biomedical sectors, having developed biomedical products. She previously founded a biotech company called iMedTech in 2015. In 2021, she co-founded Thola, a global agricultural procurement platform.

In 2016, she was recognized as Africa’s top female innovator by the World Economic Forum. She was awarded the South African Youth of the Year award by the Office of the Presidency in 2017. In 2018, she was named in Forbes Africa’s 30 under 30 list and was awarded Industrialist of the Year in Southern Africa at the All Africa Business Leaders Awards.