Alumnus recognised by international company
Hiten Parmar, Director of the uYilo Electric Mobility in South Africa was recently recognised as an 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.
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.
Written by: Lynette Dicey
Adapted BY: Liscka Hendricks – Alumni Relations
Final stretch for alumni in Mr SA 2021 contest
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.
Written By: Lynn Spence
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.
Article adapted by: Liscka Hendricks – Alumni Relations
Alumnus: Mandla Gagayi
Impressive medal haul for computer science student
Computing Sciences student, Amica de Jager, walked away with an arm full of medals at the recent DHL Lifesaving South Africa National Championships which took place in Gqeberha.
The 22-year-old won five individual golds, a team gold and an individual silver in the surf competition and then added more silverware in the Pool Championship which took at the Newton Park swimming pool.
In addition, she was named the Surf Senior Female Competitor of the championship and has been selected for Team South Africa to participate at the 2021 ILS Africa Championship in Alexandria, Egypt in December.
In April this year, Amica was awarded her BSc in Computer Science cum laude and is currently studying towards her honours.
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 Mandel
a 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.
Adapted by: Liscka Hendricks – Alumni Relations
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.
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.
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.
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.
Science Alumna shares journey to help others
Dr Pulleng Moleko-Boyce, MSc (Chemistry) ’15 and PhD (Chemistry) ’19 is a research scientist in analytical and inorganic chemistry, science communicator, part-time lecturer, mentor, and co-supervisor at the Nelson Mandela University.
She recently completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in analytical and inorganic chemistry.
Some of Dr Moleko-Boyce’s achievements include: FameLab Nelson Mandela University winner: Science communication competition and a Top 8 finalist in South Africa in 2018.
Passionate Ugandan Alumna
Dr Milly Kwagala PhD ’12 is Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration & Management at Ndejje University.She served as Head of Department Accounting & Finance at the university for two years before her promotion to Dean in September 2010.
The faculty she currently heads have a community of approximately 2000 students and 63 staff. Dr Kwagale is the Vice Chairperson of the Nelson Mandela Alumni Association-Uganda Chapter.
Established in 1992, Ndejje University (NDU) is the oldest private Christian based university and the fastest growing in Uganda.
She is a specialist in the Micro-Finance field. This area is of interest to her as her earlier work on Micro-Finance Management and Performance Indicators of Micro-Finance Institutions in Uganda was regarded as pioneer quality Micro-Finance research.
New Executive Role for Powels at SEAT
David Powels BCom ’82, CTA ’83 and 2010 Alumni Award recipient has been appointed as SEAT S.A.’s new Executive Vice-President for Finance and IT from 1 September 2021.
SEAT is the only company that designs, develops, manufactures, and markets cars in Spain. The multinational automotive company headquartered in Martorell (Barcelona) exports 80% of its vehicles and is present in over 80 countries worldwide employing more than 15 000 professionals.
Alumnus leads SABC Marketing
Themba Gwejela BA (Media Studies, Communication & Culture) '06 has been appointed as SABC's Head of Marketing from August 2021.
Before his SABC appointment, he was the founder and managing director of Mahusiano (Pty) Ltd, a strategic marketing agency established in 2014 with fellow Mandela alumnus, Solethu Maku.
The company assisted clients in various industries with strategic brand projects and campaigns including General Motors Sub-Saharan Africa.
Local company bags Exporter of the Year Award
Accoustex, a Gqeberha (former PE) based manufacturer of automotive components was announced as the overall winner of the Eastern Cape Exporter of the Year 2021 awards last week.
OVERALL WINNER: Accoustex team leader Nontsikilelo Meleli, left, executive directors Weza Moss and Andre Swartbooi, and supervisor Gavin du Plessis with the overall 2021 Exporter of the Year award won by the company. Image: WERNER HILLS
Executive Director, and Mandela University alumnus, Andre Swartbooi Diploma in Management ’12 said, Accoustex exports to 12 different countries as an indirect exporter. Over the past year, the Acoustex Group increased its direct and indirect export turnover 24% and achieved a Level 1 BBBEE rating.