We celebrate the young, vibrant and excellent alumni of the NWU.
Click on the quotes below to meet the pioneers who are making strides in their various industries and #Discover what it means to be YOUNG, GIFTED and an NWU GRADUATE.
"We should be given every opportunity. And that is what we should be teaching these young girls: to take up space. Nothing is as important as taking up space in society and cementing yourself," Zozibini Tunzi, Miss Universe 2019
Romantha started her career in journalism at Media24 in 2015. She worked as junior journalist at the regional Afrikaans newspaper, Die Burger, in the Western Cape. She then moved on to report online for the national Afrikaans online news platform, Netwerk24. Shortly after, she was approached by a Malmesbury district newspaper, Die Swartland Gazette. Here, she ran the 8-page newspaper and reported on all news in and around the Malmesbury area.
Today, she is a journalist for two national Afrikaans current affairs shows called kykNET Verslag and kykNET Verslag in Gesprek. She reports on all current affairs issues from politics to human-interest stories. One of the highlights of her short career has been covering the national elections for the channel as a junior field reporter in 2019. Romantha has been nominated for several journalism awards, including a nomination by the SAB for its Environmentalist and Environmental Media of the Year Awards in the category Best Environmental News Insert in 2018. In 2019, she was nominated by the ATKV Mediaveertjies for Best Insert in a Current Affairs Show. She is also passionate about creating safe spaces for black women and people from different intersections. Until recently, she was the South African community lead of Dope Black Women – an international community-based organisation that aims to promote healing, education, celebration, and the upliftment of black women.
Progress, not perfection
Janneman, 26, is a BCom Marketing and Tourism Management graduate of the NWU. As student, he participated in residence cricket and played Varsity Cup Cricket for the university. Today, Janneman is a professional cricketer for Boland and the South African national cricket team, the Proteas. He is a proud ambassador of the university and finds it remarkable that he was able to complete his degree and enjoy a student life where he was able to make lifelong friends – all while pursuing a professional cricket career. One of Janneman’s career highs is being named the Emerging Men’s Cricketer of 2021 by the ICC (International Cricket Council). The 26-year old is honoured by his God-given cricket talent, and attributes the early successes of his career to phenomenal coaches and the support of his family and friends.
Africa is more useful than ever, full of promise and ideas. Yet, it is our responsibility to be co-creators of the requisite environment for these ideas and for her to realise her promise.
Award-winning economist, entrepreneur and impact investor. He is a BCom Economics and International Trade graduate at North-West University and was the Season 2 winner of One Day Leader on SABC 1. He has since served as judge for three consecutive seasons of the show.
Hadebe is the Chief Executive at KH Research & Equity Partners and has been involved in strategy, investment promotion, facilitation and aftercare that has entailed enabling multinational companies to operate meaningfully in the SA context and the creation of over 800 employment opportunities for youth across SA. He has served on a panel of economists that advised the Deputy Minister of Finance and is a Brand South Africa ambassador.
Ndumiso has been recognised as a youth trailblazer by President Cyril Ramaphosa and has received awards from the Premier of Gauteng and the Mayor of the Sedibeng District. His body of work extends to the USA, China, Malawi, Germany and Switzerland amongst others. Ndumiso serves on a few boards and is valued for the strategic thinking he adds to the competitiveness and sustainability of organisations in areas of corporate governance, public policy, macroeconomic strategy, finance and investment management.
Go out and preach the gospel of Christ (Love) and, if necessary, use words
Sandra Radebe is a BSc Business Mathematics and Information graduate who is currently employed as the Head of Business Analytics for the Design Engineering Lab at Discovery Bank. In this role, she and her team use data and analytics to optimize and create seamless digital customer-centric processes. According to the 30-year-old, her time as student leader at the NWU prepared her for the corporate world and the quality of her degree equipped her for the job. Sandra aspires to complete an MBA to open the doors to becoming a leading executive in the data or information industry. Sandra has won international awards, including Best Contact Centre Analyst in EMEA (London) and Best Contact Centre Analyst in the World (Las Vegas). Sandra is a proud mom to her daughter, Tshiamo, and attributes her success to both her daughter and her faith in Christ.
“When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favour,” Elon Musk
Arlene Mulder is a MSc Business Mathematics and Informatics graduate who is passionate about driving the development of the tech industry and growing digital problem-solving capabilities in Africa. She has always loved exploring the power of mathematics and coding to transform the way we face challenges. After seven years as an investment banker at Rand Merchant Bank, Arlene left the finance world to start WeThinkCode and pursue her dream of democratising and revolutionising education to deliver top tech talent. Her latest venture is BiB, Africa’s digital audio library that preserves local literary heritage and promotes education through leveraging tech.
Arlene is currently the managing director of Dire Wolf, a financial services provider that empowers professionals with knowledge and access to medical malpractice, cyber security, business, and personal insurance. One of the highlights of her career has been winning the Forbes Woman Africa Technology and Innovation Award in 2019. Subsequently, she was featured on the cover of Forbes Women Africa as one of the 20 New Wealth Creators on the African continent in 2019. She was selected for the International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP) by the US Consulate in 2017 and is a global ambassador for She Loves Tech. She is currently serving as board chair of Click Learning, a non-profit organisation that implements literacy and numeracy programmes for under-served primary schools in South Africa.
In life we're often tested, this is not to show our weaknesses but
rather to allow us to discover our strength.
In his current position as a Group Financial Manager at a multinational shipping company, Shaah Bootha overseas the finance department of the Sub-Saharan Africa region. He is the youngest person to qualify as a chartered accountant in South Africa and achieve the Honours Roll Top Ten for his SAICA (South Africa’s Institute for Chartered Accountants) APC Board exam. Prior to joining his current employer, Shaah spent 5 years with PwC, and was a proud recipient of the PwC Africa Experience Award that is awarded to a select number of PwC employees across Africa for personifying the PwC values of care, integrity, making a difference, and reimagining the possible. Shaah has been featured in several South African newspapers and publications, and graced the cover of Accountancy South Africa (ASA). Shaah is a truly proud NWU Alumni who, during his time as student at the University, offered weekend classes to assist NWU Financial Accounting undergraduates.
You reap what you sow
Mthokozisi Nsango is an NWU alumnus who obtained a degree in BSc Financial Mathematics. He is currently employed as data scientist at Nedbank, where he is part of a team that obtains insights from large data sets to drive operational performance through data analysis. Mthokozisi sees himself fulfilling a pivotal senior management role in data analytics. He attributes the essential skills needed to thrive in a multi-dimensional corporate environment to his studies at the NWU. Mthokozisi received a gold medal for the best Contact Centre Analyst in the world at the 2016 Global Contact Centre Awards.
A ship is safe in the harbour, but for this ships were not built
Prof Ederick Stander is an extraordinary professor at the Optentia Research Unit of the NWU. He is a registered Industrial Psychologist and accredited with the British Psychological Society (BPS). Ederick is the Managing Director of PsychAI (Fitt), a global talent assessment and technology firm where he is responsible for the company’s growth strategy and alliances. This includes a partnership with the Psychometrics Centre at the University of Cambridge (UK), as well as the company’s client portfolio, which is spread across Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Ederick has led talent projects in Africa, Europe, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, US, Singapore and China.
He is a co-founder of the Fitt Talent platform, a multi-dimensional talent assessment and learning platform, which makes use of proprietary enterprise and cloud technologies; AI-enabled, real-time candidate feedback, and remote proctoring. This platform has assessed leaders and industry professionals from more than 30 different countries across a wide variety of sectors, including mining, energy, chemicals, utilities, banking, retail, telecoms, professional services and agriculture. It is also the world’s first talent platform that provides candidates access to curated learning customized to their assessment results. Fitt Executive, the platform’s flagship product, has been voted one of the best coaching and mentoring initiatives in the Middle East by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD). The Fitt platform was also winner of the title of best SME tech platform in the Middle East by Entrepreneur Magazine (2021). Ederick was voted the HR Young Leader of the Year by the Future of HR Summit and Awards in South Africa (2021), and invited to join the Forbes Global Business Council in 2022. Through the Fitt Foundation, Ederick’s team makes postgraduate bursaries and professional study opportunities available to promising South African students studying towards a qualification in Industrial Psychology.
Ederick’s research interest is focused on the interface between technology and talent management, and promotion of the employee experience for effective succession planning and talent retention. He is widely published in several peer-reviewed journals and specialist books, and achieved a NRF rating in 2019. He is a proud alumnus of the NWU, having literally grown up on the riverbanks of the Vaal Campus. His qualifications include a PhD in Industrial Psychology, as well as an MCom (with distinction) from the NWU. He was awarded the NWU Rector’s Medal for distinguished academic performance. He has supplemented his qualifications with programmes in Knowledge Management and People Analytics through the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, respectively.
"Be the change you want to see in the world," Mahatma Gandhi
Lebohang is challenging the status quo of the beauty and sports industries. She is an international runway model in a wheelchair who has participated in Asian and European Fashion Week, and a wheelchair basketball player who participated in the 2015 Algeria Paralympic Qualifiers and the Basketball World Cup Qualifiers in 2008. As a BA Social Sciences graduate from the NWU, she is passionate about local communities and dedicates much of her time to inspire people living with disabilities and educating communities about the importance of accessibility to persons living with disabilities.
“I stand on the sacrifices of a million women before me thinking: what can I do to make this mountain taller so the women after me can see farther,” Rupi Kaur
Dynamic Danielle, a PhD candidate in International Aspects of Law, is currently an administrative assistant in the office of the Executive Director: Student Life at the NWU. In this role, she is part of the team responsible for the expansion and development of the co-curricular activities, services, and opportunities at the NWU. A former student council chairperson, Danielle is a champion of the vibrant NWU student life. She is truly passionate about the experiences she has garnered whilst serving as a student leader and is confident that the quality education she received at the institution has equipped her to pursue her dream of becoming a family law expert. She describes herself as an ambitious extrovert and hopes to one day volunteer in a United Nations UNICEF programme to learn more about the law from an international perspective.
"Your present circumstances do not determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start," Nido Qubein
Boitshepo has a Master’s degree in Microbiology. A self-professed fungi-obsessed microbiologist and a waste-recycling enthusiast, she is dedicated to raising awareness about waste recycling as a tool for creating employment as well as working towards the 2030 National Development Plan’s vision of a cleaner environment. Boitshepo has a list of impressive awards under her belt. She was part of the group that won the Global Entrepreneurship Summer School award as well as the NWU Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Most Promising Student Innovation Idea and Top 20 North-West University Early Career Women Scientists. She is a member of a number of prestigious professional bodies, including the Young African Leaders Initiative, Organization for Women in Science for Developing World, and Black Women in Science. Boitshepo has presented a paper at the World Antimicrobial Awareness Week Virtual Symposium and, this year, she was accepted to attend the Camp 2030 Summit in New York from 12 - 18 September, 2022. Camp 2030 is a highly selective programme, and Boitshepo was chosen from over 3,000 applicants from 100+ countries to attend the Summit as a top change maker who is working to take action within their local community. She is currently an Occupational Health and Safety Inspector at the Department of Employment and Labour, where she enforces health and safety compliance.
Perseverance is the mother of success
Tumisang Ben Matshogo (31) is a young farmer and PhD candidate from Driefontein in the North-West Province. He is passionate about education, poverty alleviation through promoting food security, and empowering young people in his community. Due to hard work and persistence, he completed his Diploma in Animal Science in 2012, BSc (Hons) Animal Science in 2015 and MSc in Animal Science in 2017. During his studies at the North-West University, Tumisang served as student assistant, helping lecturers and students with their academic activities, which led to his drive towards academic excellence – he published six articles from his master’s and PhD studies in peer-reviewed journals. He is currently employed as temporary lecturer at the University of Mpumalanga and hopes to become an NRF-rated academic researcher. Tumisang has managed to graduate in Animal Science. He is the owner of Country Deserver Poultry farming that provides permanent employment for two young people. He has attended several SASAS (South African Society for Animal Science) conferences and was a speaker at the Global Summit on Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine (ASVM2022) that took place in Japan earlier this year.