Nakedi Maputla is African Wildlife Foundation’s Senior Conservation Scientist. He joined AWF in 2007, working in South Africa's Limpopo region, where he comes from. Nakedi's initial work was focused on studying the great African cats to shape conservation strategies to benefit communities that he has known all his life. In 2014, Nakedi moved on from the Limpopo region, becoming AWF’s Landscape Ecologist in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was based in Djolu up to 2016, when he returned to South Africa. Until late 2018, Nakedi served as AWF’s Senior Partnership Manager, Southern Africa, representing the organization in South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Botswana, and Namibia. He attained a Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology/Animal Biology from the University of Pretoria in 2014 and a Postgraduate Diploma in International Wildlife Conservation Practice from the University of Oxford in 2009. In addition to his BSc in Zoology/Botany, Nakedi also holds a Higher Diploma in Education and taught at a high school in Pretoria before joining AWF.