Nico de Klerk is a social entrepreneur, public speaker, and lecturer at the School of Social Innovation, Huguenot College, South Africa. As Founder/CEO of StreetBiz Foundation, (non-profit), with a vision to address inequality, the emphasis is on entrepreneurial mindset development.

Nico completed his PhD in 2016, which focused on Camino de Santiago, the pilgrimage from France to Spain, which he did after graduation. In 2020, he served as Adjunct-Professor in Spiritual Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, USA.

With social change in mind, he designed a Camino in South Africa called, “Long Walk for the Entrepreneurial Mindset”, an epic journey in 2018, when Nico walked from Pretoria to Cape Town, covering 1,700miles (2750km), visiting 100+ townships (isolated communities of poverty for black people, enforced by the Apartheid), presenting workshops at 200 high schools, and engaging with the unemployed and community leaders along the way.

Nico received the Edward de Bono Award for the Best Global Social Innovative Project for 2018 from Life Learning Academia. In 2023 Nico published a book in the USA, titled, “No Fit: My 1,700mile Walk from Apartheid”, describing this incredible journey.

 Nico obtained a Master Trainer Certificate in Entrepreneurial Skills Development from the University State of California. As National Coordinator and keynote speaker, he took a team selected from township schoolsto the World Championship for Student Entrepreneurs in Moscow, Russia, and achieved a 4th place against the best in the world.

He was a keynoter at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2019 in Toronto, Canada. At the Institute for Democracy, Ohio, USA, he participates in an ongoing global “Deliberative Dialogue” program. Nico became a co-editor for a book African Leadership: Powerful Paradigms for the 21st Century, published by Emerald Publishers, Canada, 2023.