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Stavros Nicolaou is a member of the Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited Group Executive Committee and the Group Senior Executive responsible for strategic trade development. Previously, he was the CEO of Aspen’s Export Business. Aspen is Africa’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturer and now a world leader in anaesthetics and injectable anti-coagulants. Aspen is one of South Africa’s most globalised multinational companies with a presence in over 50 geographies globally and 26 manufacturing facilities across six continents. Nicolaou was instrumental in introducing the first generic antiretrovirals (ARVs) on the African continent developed by Aspen, which have gone on to save hundreds of thousands of lives in South Africa and on the African continent.

Nicolaou is a graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University) and has over 31 years’ experience in the South African and international pharmaceutical industry, 27 years of which have been with the Aspen Group or its subsidiaries. He is a previous winner of the SA Institute of Marketing Management Health Care Marketer of the Year Award and a previous recipient of the Monty Rubenstein Award for proficiency in pharmaceutics from the Wits University Pharmacy Health Sciences Faculty. He was awarded the Order of the Lion of St Mark by the Greek Orthodox Pope Theodoros II and recently received the title of “High Commander of the Order of the Apostle & Evangelist Mark” of the Patriarchate of Alexandria. He has been inducted as a Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa (PSSA), one of the highest honours bestowed by the PSSA, and was recently awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Medicine by Wits University.

Nicolaou is particularly passionate about diversity, transformation, championing localisation and building bridges between the private and public sectors to improve access to treatment for patients in emerging markets and healthcare outcomes in these markets. He has been involved in several social responsibility and charitable causes aimed at reducing poverty and inequality and assisting economic growth and development in South Africa. He has been a speaker at numerous conferences, including the Economist Roundtable and the World Economic Forum and has delivered a lecture on ARV developments at the Raigon Institute, a joint venture between Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. 

He has previously served and continues to serve on numerous industry and associated structures, some of which include: 

• The Advisory Council on National Orders, to which he was appointed by His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa;
• The Forum to Promote Transparency and Multistakeholder Engagement Regarding Medicine Availability, an advisory body assisting in finding solutions towards improving access to and availability of medicine through enhanced transparency, equity, efficiency, responsiveness and accountability in the supply chain, to which he was appointed by the Minister of Health;
• Business for South Africa (B4SA) Steering Committee (as a member) and B4SA Health Workgroup (as Chairperson);
• National Covid-19 Vaccine Co-ordinating Committee and the Covid-19 Vaccine Joint Oversight Steering Committee;
• Public Health Enhancement Fund (as Chairman) – a collaboration between the private health sector and the Ministry of Health;
• Wits University Foundation Board of Governors;

• The Board of Brand South Africa, to which he was re-appointed for a third term by President Cyril Ramaphosa;
• The Interim Board of Cricket South Africa (as Chairman), to which he was appointed by the Minister of Arts, Sports and Culture; 
• The Trade and Industry Minister’s Export Panel on devising an export strategy for South Africa;
• The Board of SA Express Airways (as Chairman between 2005 and 2009), as appointed by the Minister of Public Enterprise; 
• The Board of Transnet Ltd., the state-owned integrated logistics company (as Chairman from 2004 to 2010), appointed by the Minister of Public Enterprises;
• The Trade and Investment Committee of the Board of the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GGDA) (as Chairman) and  Director of the GGDA, as appointed by the MEC for Economic Development for two consecutive terms; 
• The BRICS Business Council, as appointed by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition for a third term;
• The Special Economic Zones Advisory Board, as appointed by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition;
• The South Africa-Saudi Arabia Business Council, as appointed by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition (as Chairman);
• The Marketing Committee and Board of the Board of Proudly South Africa, as appointed by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition and NEDLAC (as Chairman);
• The Executive of the Manufacturing Circle (as a member);
• Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) (as a Non-executive Director), the apex business organisation of South Africa and BUSA Health Forum (as Chairman);
• The South African Pharmaceutical Producers Association (as Chairman) and the Pharmaceutical Task Group, overall Pharmaceutical Industry Umbrella Organisation, (as Chairman); 
• World Bank/IFC Technical Advisory Board on the strengthening of African Health Systems;
• The International Pharmaceutical Students Federation (as Vice-President);
• Wits University, accredited to the Faculty of Health Science (as an Honorary Lecturer); and
• The North-West University Business School Advisory Board (as Director).