Alumnus recognised by international company
Hiten Parmar, Director of the uYilo Electric Mobility in South Africa was recently recieved the international #ThoughtLeader and #Innovator award by ParkMyFleet.
Parmar is a 2018 Alumni Rising Star Award recipient and holds a Diploma ’06, BTech ’08, MTech (Elec Eng) ’12 and PGDip (Bus Admin) ’17.
ParkMyFleet was founded by Real Estate and Automotive executives with over 40 years of fleet management and storage experience providing fast and scalable solutions to parking and storage needs in the ever-evolving automotive industry. Their footprint is established in every US market and major metro.
Parmar has more than 15 years’ experience in government and industry lobbying, business development and technical innovation.
uYilo Electric Mobility Programme is aimed at enabling, facilitating and mobilising electric mobility.
He is passionate about contributing to advancements within the transport and energy sectors globally through the deployment of technological interventions to solve major economic, competitiveness, and societal challenges. Hiten has been granted numerous prestigious awards such as Africa Energy Elite 2020 and CEO Today Africa 2019.
“Thinking outside of the box requires shifting the behaviours associated with blaming, complaining, defending and being closed-minded,” Hiten told ESI Africa in an interview in August. “We need to create a culture that inspires out-of-the-box thinking, an environment where people engage in the behaviours to leap outside of the box, while providing support for those times when change is difficult.”
Adapted By: Liscka Hendricks – Alumni Relations
AD agency finalist for top Award
M&C SAATCHI ABEL is in the running for the 2021 Financial Mail AdFocus Awards in the categories: Large Advertising Agency of the Year (M&C Saatchi Abel), AdFocus Public Relations Agency of the Year (M&C Saatchi Group) and AdFocus Media Agency of the Year (M&C Saatchi Connect).
Representing his company as Founding Partner & CEO of M&C SAATCHI Group South Africa and M&C SAATCHI ABEL, alumnus Mike Abel, National Diploma (Marketing & Sales Management)’89 was thrilled with the recognition.
“What wonderful recognition & validation for M&C SAATCHI Group SA. Thank you to the judges for the recognition, a win will be marvellous but still thrilled to get this from our industry colleagues,” he said via his LinkedIn platform.
Abel is regarded as one of South Africa's leading business, marketing and communications specialists, a published author with over 30 years’ experience locally and internationally in advertising.
The winners across 15 categories will be celebrated as Advertising’s Game Changers at an event on 24 November 2021.
The awards, established in 1990, recognises agencies and individuals, not just for their creative and marketing skills, but for their all-round business acumen. The awards have grown to become a landmark on the SA marketing and communications landscape, where business effectiveness is the primary measurement tool.
Four measures are put in place for judging: New Business and Growth; Business Retention and Relationships; Training and Industry Recognition; and Empowerment/Social Responsibility.
Written by: Lynette Dicey
Adapted BY: Liscka Hendricks – Alumni Relations
Alumnus and UWC Sport Director nominated for prestigious award
Mandla Gagayi BA’11, Director of Sport at UWC has been shortlisted for the International University Sports Federation (FISU) Gender Equality Champion Award.
He is a 2017 Nelson Mandela University Alumni Rising Star Award recipient.
Gagayi, the only male candidate, forms part of a six-person shortlist of nominees recognised for having made significant efforts to increase the participation of women in sport.
In his role as Director of Sport at UWC, he introduced policies that allow women to be represented on all sporting platforms, including within leadership structures.
Gagayi's support for women in sport was previously recognised with an Award for Social Change in 2009 by Amnesty International.
Article adapted by: Liscka Hendricks – Alumni Relations
Alumnus: Mandla Gagayi
Final stretch for alumni in Mr SA 2021 contests
Viwe Mlonzi, 32, and Sibabalwe “Siba” Phillip, 23, are vying for the coveted Mr SA 2021 title and will hit the stage during the live crowning in Johannesburg on November 6.
The pair both from Gqeberha recently made it into the Top 10 and have their sights firmly set on winning and representing their hometown well.
Mlonzi is a financial planner, born in Gqeberha but living in Sterkspruit operates an investment-focused business with offices around the Eastern Cape and is further invested in farming and the property market. He holds a BCom (Financial Accounting)’12, MA (Development Studies)’14, PGDip (Financial Planning)’17 from Nelson Mandela University.
Phillip is a qualified NQF Level 5 personal trainer and holds a BA (Humanities)’21 BA from Nelson Mandela University.
Mlonzi, who grew up in the township, struggling with self-confidence shared “I am gunning for that title. There is no slipping up now.”
Phillip has held the belief that he is qualified to enter and bag the title as well as continue to run his own fitness business shared, “If I continue to do everything correctly this title is mine.”
Read article here:
Article Source: HeraldLIVE
Written By: Lynn Spence
Adapted by: Liscka Hendricks – Alumni Relations
Alumni: Viwe Mlonzi & @Siba Phillip
Top language award for Mandela Uni master's graduate
Alumna Cingiswa Mbangwa recently received the African Languages of Southern Africa (ALASA) VIA AFRIKA Postgraduate Award for her outstanding research. She holds a MA in isiXhosa’21 cum laude from Nelson Mandela University.
The award for “Outstanding contribution to knowledge in the domain of African Languages” was made in recognition of her significant contribution to African Languages, Linguistics and literatures in relation to theory/practice/methodology.
The ALASA gala dinner was hosted by the University of Fort Hare and the Pan South African Language Board in East London.
Read Article here: Mandela University News
Adapted by: Liscka Hendricks – Alumni Relations
Alumna: Cingiswa Mbangwa
Alumni excel at academic awards
Two Madibaz tennis players are among the 24 top students who received awards at the recent virtual annual academic student awards ceremony.
Justin Impey was one of the two prestigious Rupert Gesinstigting Awards recipients and Sinazo James was the winner of the Health Sciences Faculty’s First Diploma Award.
The Rupert Gesinstigting Awards are made to the best full-time doctoral students registered for the current year at the University. Justin received his in the Science, Engineering and Technology category for his Master’s in Human Movement Science. Justin holds a BSc (HMS & Biochemistry)’18, BA Hons (HMS: Sports Science)’19 and Master of Human Movement Science’21.
His research was the first of its kind and centred around investigating the effects of neuromuscular agitators, such as caffeine and post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE) on key performance indicators in soccer and hockey goalkeepers.
Sinazo has a Diploma (HMS: Sports Management)’21 and obtained 100% for her Sport Management Practice Module and 76% overall for her Diploma in Sport Management. She currently works as receptionist and administrator at The Youth Cricket Academy and wants to start coaching part-time and study Physiotherapy in future.
She was part of the administrative team during the USSA Soccer Tournament in 2018, was seconded to the COSAFA/FIFA Female referee’s department during the COSAFA tournament in 2019 and was also a scorer at the EC gymnastics tournament in 2019.
Read Article here:
Adapted by: Liscka Hendricks – Alumni Relations
Alumni: Justin Impey & Sinazo James
Congratulations Mandela Alumna Amy Shelver
Amy is the Public Information Officer at UNCTAD in Geneva, Switzerland.
Amy shares, "It’s so amazing to be recognized by Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) for the work: creative, communications and diplomatic. Thank you for seeing the hours and effort, and mostly the passion."
Triggerfish partners with German project to train next generation
Africa’s leading animation studio, Triggerfish has partnered with the German government-funded Employment for Skills and Development in Africa (E4D) Programme aims to boost the South African animation sector.
The ambitious three-year partnership aims to expose 10,000 school leavers to the animation industry, empower 6,000 creatives with enhanced portfolios and market access, and create 200 more jobs.
Triggerfish chief executive, Stuart Forrest, said the partnership was aimed at combating the shortage of higher to expert-level professionals in the industry. Forrest, an Alumni Achiever Award recipient in 2017 holds a National Diploma (Fine Art)’94 and BTech (Fine Art)’95 from Nelson Mandela University.
Triggerfish Academy – a free digital learning platform accessible to African animation industry experts recently announced an animation competition for 18- to 35-year-olds. Animators are invited to create a 10-second character-driven animated clip based on an audio clip provided, to show off their artistic originality and technical animation skills.
Read More
Written By: ZAMANDULO MALONDE
Adapted By: Liscka Hendricks – Alumni Relations
Top China job for Mandela Uni Alumnus
Bachelor of Education honours graduate, Dylan Mackenzie, has been appointed as foreign academic director for the Limai Chinese American International School in Beijing, China.
This makes him the youngest South African director in China as well as the youngest African academic director, which is equivalent to deputy principal here.
Dylan 27, from East London, started teaching in Gqeberha in 2015 and has been teaching in China for the last four years.
He started off in China as a biology teacher, then head of department for grades 9-12, and now foreign academic director at his school which caters for grade 7 to 12 learners.
His job involves observing and training teachers, implementing the foreign/international curriculum, dealing with parents and interviewing potential learners.
China is a challenging country to live in due to the language barrier and a very different culture, but he has worked hard at overcoming the challenges.
Dylan is currently writing an educational book on the impact of age on talented students and plans to continue pursuing this topic through doctoral research at a later stage.
His end goal? To move back to South Africa and embark on a political career focusing on education – particularly - educational policy – where real change can be made.
His dream is to become the minister of education.
Alumnus: Dylan MacKenzie
Top graduates contributing to health services
The research of two award-winning master’s graduates and lecturers at Nelson Mandela University can contribute to the country’s health services in both the legal and environmental health areas. Both women received awards at the recent virtual annual academic student awards ceremony.
Priscilla Moyo and Sydlynn Hambury
Faculty of Law lecturer Priscilla Moyo received the prestigious Rupert Gesinstigting Award for Social Sciences and Humanities for her LLM in Law. The Rupert Gesinstigting awards are awarded to the best full-time doctoral students registered for the current year at the University - one in Social Sciences and Humanities and the other in Science, Engineering and Technology.
Environmental Health lecturer Sydlynn Hambury won the award for an MTech by Dissertation in the Science, Engineering and Technology category for her MTech in Environmental Health.Priscilla’s LLM focused on the constitutionality of selected aspects of the National Health Insurance Bill and found that the NHI Bill is likely to be unconstitutional, because of the differential treatment afforded to non-nationals in the Bill. It also lacks details with respect to certain material aspects.
For her LLD, she is researching socio-economic rights and assessing the role of section 36 in the adjudication of the right to access health care services.
Priscilla, who hails from Zimbabwe, aspires to “one day be one of the world’s prominent human rights lawyers and what I do now makes a difference in my future successes. Therefore, I must not only work hard but I also put myself out there to enable me to build connections that will assist me in my career”, she says.
“I would like to think of law as a calling rather than a profession because you must have the desire to help people if you are going to be in the legal profession, especially if you are going to be dealing with human rights. The desire to help people drew me to law”, she says.
Covid-19 has greatly affected her working routine with limited access to the library.
Furthermore, with all the travel restrictions, she has been unable to travel for seminars and conferences and whilst most of these have moved online, it is just not the same as networking and sharing ideas in person, she says.
Her dream job is to be a Human Rights Litigator at an NGO that advocates for the protection of socio-economic rights.
As a student Priscilla also volunteered for the Law Faculty’s Ubuntu Outreach Programme, an initiative of the Law Faculty assisting students with sandwiches and tea during lunch time.
Sydlynn‘s motto in life is to never give up on your dreams and to always try your best in life.
Reaching the top of the ladder is always a process, but just take one step at a time and the more you touch each rung of the ladder, the closer you are to fulfilling your dreams. “If I can make a difference in only one person’s life, then I have achieved something wonderful”, she says.
She obtained an 83% average for her research on the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding schistosomiasis (bilharzia) among schoolchildren in Grades 4 to 7 from four selected primary schools in KwaNobuhle.
“I really enjoy learning and research. My hope is that the findings from my study will assist various role players and healthcare professionals to put effective preventative and control measures in place in order to eliminate the disease from the study area’, she says.
The Covid-19 pandemic has taught her to appreciate life and to remain grounded. She tried her best to balance her daily tasks and persevered to finish her dissertation.
Schistosomiasis is prevalent in many developing countries, particularly in Africa and its debilitating effects remain a public health concern in South Africa. Water contact practices in infested water predisposes humans to infection.
Her findings showed that urinary schistosomiasis in the study area had been reported in clinics in the past few years, but the overall knowledge and attitudes on schistosomiasis was poor.
Males (93%) had a higher percentage of infection than females (7%), and the highest rate of infections was found in individuals between the ages of 10 and 19 years.
The results of this study could assist in designing effective preventative and co
ntrol programmes geared towards eliminating and possibly eradicating schistosomiasis from the study area and South Africa at large.
Sydlynn grew up in Kariega and went to Strelitzia High School.
She was the best academic student for her National Diploma in Environmental Health and received merit bursaries for outstanding academics at Mandela University.
At school she received merit awards for academics, speech and drama and Interact.
Sydlynn enjoys jogging, swimming, playing tennis, hiking, being outdoors in nature and spending quality time with her family and friends.
“Dreams are never too big or too small, just begin! In life, we are all going to stumble and fall, but just remember to get back up and to always be proud of yourself,” she says.
Alumni: Priscilla Moyo and Sydlynn Hambury