Youth Unemployment Series
28th of September 2016: “THE ‘STATE’ OF OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM IN THE TECHNOLOGY AGE AND
HOW THAT TRANSLATES INTO EMPLOYMENT”
JILL YOUNG
Jill Young is the Co-owner and founder of EvenMe, an innovative online portal and App that provides access to youth career and development support. Jill is also the founder and director of corporate fundamentals (Pty) Ltd and the owner of Unique Soles. She previously worked as an employee communications developer for Nokia (2012); as the head of Internal Communications Middle East and Africa for Nokia (2010); and the Marketing Manager: Brand Sponsorship and Events (Activation Manager) for Nokia (2007) She was the Project manager at Makwetla and Associates; formerly the CEO of the National Delphic Council.17th of August 2016: “CREATE ENTREPENEURS INSTEAD OF TENDERPRENEURS”
ERICA PENFOLD
Erica Penfold is currently a freelance researcher and a PhD candidate in the Politics Department at Stellenbosch University. She was previously employed as a research fellow with the South African Institute of International Affairs. She has worked for non-profit organisations and civil society, including Global Integrity, Management Sciences for Health and the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation. She has been involved in a number of research projects across Africa, with particular focus on global health governance. Her research interests are regionalism, Southern Africa’s international relations, access to health care and medicines, democratic reform and development.20th of July 2016: “OBSTACLES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A CO-ORDINATED APPROACH CRITICAL TO PROMOTE YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP”
JACQUELINE KEW
Jacqui Kew is an Associate Professor at the College of Accounting (UCT) and teaches on various Executive Short Courses at UCT’s Graduate School of Business. She is the Principal author of Financial Accounting: An Introduction and is Project Director of http://www.learnaccounting.uct.ac.za, a free multi-lingual College of Accounting initiative offering short concept videos on accounting-based topics. She is also involved in entrepreneurial research and regularly co-authors the South African Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.29th of June 2016: “THE FINANCIAL CRISIS AND ITS ENDURING LEGACY FOR YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT”
VOLKER SCHÖER
Volker Schöer is a lecturer in economics at the University of the Witwatersrand. He holds a MA in economics from the University of Cape Town. Volker’s research investigates worker and firm dynamics with particular focus on job matching, and education. He is also the director of the African Micro-Economic Research Unit (AMERU) at the University of the Witwatersrand. The AMERU focuses on micro-econometric analysis of South African labour force and firm level data. Some of the latest projects of the AMERU include impact evaluation studies of a youth wage subsidy and various education interventions.
GARETH ROBERTS
Gareth is a lecturer at the School of Economics and Business Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand and has been a researcher at AMERU since 2008. His primary interest is in youth unemployment and he was most recently part of a team that implemented an evaluation of a targeted youth wage-subsidy voucher for the National Treasury of South Africa. Gareth also has extensive experience managing data collection and is currently the Impact Evaluation coordinator in South Africa for the World Bank’s Development Impact Evaluation Initiative (DIME).
DEBRA SHEPHERD
Having completed her undergraduate studies at Stellenbosch in 2005, Debra passed her Bcomm Honours and Mcomm degree Cum Laude in 2007 and 2009 respectively. Debra was employed as a junior lecturer and researcher in the Economics Department at Stellenbosch from 2008 to 2011, she was also a researcher at the African Micro Economics Research Unit based at the University of the Witwatersrand. Currently she works as an economics lecturer at Stellenbosch University. She was also a VU-NRF Desmond Tutu Doctoral Scholarship candidate, where she completed her PhD in Development Economics through Vrijie Universiteit Amsterdam and Stellenbosch University. Her thesis focused on the Analysis efficiently and effectiveness within the South African education system.
NEIL RANKIN
Neil Rankin is an Associate Professor in Economics at Stellenbosch University. He holds a MA in Economics from the Simon Fraser University and completed his PhD in Economics at the University of Oxford in 2006. Neil is an applied micro-economist working in the areas of labour markets, firms, pricing, trade and impact evaluation. As part of his research he has managed and administered firm and labour market surveys in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Rwanda and Tanzania.22nd of June 2016: “THE STATE OF YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA”
MORNE OOSTHUIZEN
Morné Oosthuizen is Deputy Director of the Development Policy Research Unit (DPRU) located within the School of Economics at the University of Cape Town. He joined the DPRU as a researcher in 2002 and holds an M.Comm. degree in Economics from the University of Stellenbosch. His research interests include intergenerational transfers, poverty, inequality, and labour economics. Morné is currently completing his PhD at the University of Cape Town on the topic of intergenerational transfers and National Transfer Accounts in South Africa.