Matthew Stern

Matthew Stern is the Managing Director of DNA Economics and an economist with a wide range of public and private sector experience.  Prior to founding DNA Economics, Matthew worked for the South African Department of Trade and Industry, the National Treasury of South Africa and the World Bank.  His consulting and research interests are in trade and industrial policy and regional integration.  Matthew has an MSc in Financial Economics from the University of London and a PhD in Development Studies from the University of Sussex.

Elias Masilela

Elias Masilela is a Director of DNA Economics and a part-time commissioner on the National Planning Commission.  Elias is also a Director of the South African Savings Institute; a founder member of the Financial Sector Charter Council; and a former member of the Advisory Board of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of Pretoria.  Until recently, Elias was the Chief Executive Officer of the Public Investment Commission (PIC) and a Director of the South African Reserve Bank.  He has previously held senior positions with Sanlam, the Central Bank of Swaziland and was the Deputy Director General of the South African National Treasury. Elias holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Sciences (Economics and Statistics) from the University of Swaziland and a Master of Sciences in Economic Policy and Analysis from the Addis Ababa University.  He has lectured at a number of academic institutions and has written widely on the subject of economic policy.

Amanda Jitsing

Amanda Jitsing is head of DNA's public economics practice. She has experience in public finance, regulatory economics and policy making and has worked in all three spheres of government in South Africa. She has completed research projects in the areas of intergovernmental fiscal relations, financial management, budgeting, strategic planning, and monitoring and evaluation. Prior to joining DNA, Amanda was a project manager at the Auditor General, where she managed the interface between the Auditor General and his parliamentary stakeholders on issues such as financial management and auditing. She has also worked for the Applied Fiscal Research Centre (Pty) Ltd, a leading consultancy specialising in capacity building and research in the public sector.

Brent Cloete

Brent is an economist experienced in conducting sector studies, socio-economic and regulatory impact analyses, evaluating donor programmes and providing policy and strategy advice to public and private sector clients. His current focus is on climate change economics. Brent joined DNA from Genesis Analytics, where he worked in the development finance, liquid fuels, chemicals, capital markets, telecommunications, publishing, and pulp and paper sectors in South Africa. He has also worked on projects focussing on other African countries, including trade facilitation in East Africa, economic recovery in Zimbabwe, manufacturing in Mozambique, the textile and clothing industry in Botswana, and public sector reform in Rwanda. He holds an M.Comm in Economics from the University of Stellenbosch.

Yash Ramkolowan

Yash Ramkolowan is an economist with experience in financial economics, trade and industrial policy. Prior to joining DNA Economics, Yash worked as a research analyst at Cadiz Securities, where he was responsible for modelling equities, writing reports and developing investment strategies. He has also worked as a research assistant on a number of trade-related projects while at the University of Cape Town.  Yash holds an MCom in Economics from the University of Cape Town.

Sarah Truen

Sarah is an economist with a particular interest in the competitive framework and regulation of network economies. Sarah joined DNA Economics from Genesis Analytics, where she undertook research across a wide range of industries, including capital markets, telecommunications, and the transportation sector, for clients from both the private and public sector. Specific projects included benchmarking South African telecommunications prices against an international peer group, analysis of price formation and efficiency in the South African rail network, and providing recommendations as regards the regulation of the contracts for differences market. From 1999 to 2003, Sarah worked in the South African stockbroking industry. She holds an MCom in Economics from the University of the Witwatersrand.

Daleen Nieuwoudt

Daleen is the Business Operations Manager at DNA Economics, responsible for maintaining all human resource, financial and administrative processes; and ensuring that the company's business operations are efficient and effective in meeting customer requirements and DNA’s strategic goals. Daleen has worked in the consultancy industry for more than ten years in various roles, including that of Operations and Procurement Management, and also has experience in Government. Daleen holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (Industrial Psychology and Communication).

Rosalia Mofolo

Rosalia is contracted to the Chemonics project office as the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist (M&E), working on the South Africa Low Emissions Development (SA-LED) Project. She most recently served as the M&E Specialist for USAID/Power Africa. Prior to this, she served in other M&E roles as the M&E Advisor for a USAID funded project - Building Local Capacity under Management Sciences for Health and as M&E Coordinator for CARE South Africa/Lesotho, in a project funded by both USAID and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) covering Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland. She also served in the Education sector as the Principal Quality Assurance and Standards Officer for the Council on Higher Education. She began her career in development as the Assistant Program Manager for US Peace Corps/Lesotho’s Education program.

Rosalia holds a Master’s Degree in Management and Leadership from University of the Free Sate; a Postgraduate Diploma in Monitoring and Evaluation Methods from Stellenbosch University and recently a Graduate Certificate in Quality Assurance with University of Melbourne.   

Mmamoletji Thosago

Zulaikha Brey

Zulaikha has worked as an economist in DNA since June 2012, and specialises in monitoring and evaluation. She has been involved in the analysis and evaluation of numerous economic policy programmes. Her work has included the comparative analysis on small business incubators for the Jobs Fund (National Treasury), an evaluation of KZN provincial strategies and policies, a formative evaluation of the Gauteng Township Economic Revitalisation Strategy, and an evaluation of the regulatory framework governing NPOs in South Africa. She was the ‘shadow’ project manager on the Evaluation of the Non-profit Regulatory System and has worked on a variety of other social development evaluations covering the health, education and CSI sectors.

Prior to joining DNA, Zulaikha worked as a strategy analyst at African Bank, where she was responsible for monitoring and evaluating the credit behaviour of the Bank’s clients. She has also worked at the Development Bank of Southern Africa, where she was involved in the evaluation and monitoring of the DBSA’s support and assistance to other African countries. Zulaikha holds a Masters in Development Finance from the University of Stellenbosch.

Dawid-Willem Pienaar

Dawid is an economist and qualified actuary with a focus on quantitative modelling, public policy, public finance and education. Since joining DNA Economics in 2014, Dawid has been involved in a number of evaluations of government programmes and initiatives; playing a leading role in several recent basic and post-school education and training projects. Dawid has also been involved in projects in the development finance, criminal justice and tourism sectors.

Prior to joining DNA Economics, Dawid worked in financial consulting and investment banking in Johannesburg and London, where he focussed on the development of credit risk management models in response to the financial crisis and increasing regulatory pressures. He is a fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and completed a two-year MPhil in economics at the University of Oxford.

LINTON REDDY

Linton Reddy is a competition specialist. Before joining DNA Economics, he spent four years as an economist in the Policy and Research division at the Competition Commission. During his time at the Commission he worked on cases in a range of sectors such as telecommunications, fertilizer, chemicals, minerals and mining, pharmaceuticals, paper, bitumen, agriculture and fisheries. He has drafted expert reports as well as provided economic input into cases presented at the Competition Tribunal. Linton holds an honours degree in Economics from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal and is working towards a MCOM in Economics.

Fouché Venter

Fouche is an economist focussing on public policy and systems, specifically within the health and education sector. Since joining DNA Economics in 2012, he has worked on a wide range of projects related to these fields with the Public Economics team. His areas of specialisation include costing, economic evaluations and strategic planning. Fouche has an in-depth understanding of health systems and the financing thereof as well as the South African Public Finance System more generally. Fouché holds a Master's degree in economics and a post-graduate diploma in Public Health, both from the University of Pretoria.

Lerato Tsebe

Lerato is currently contracted to the Chemonics project office as the Communications and Outreach Specialist on the South Africa Low Emissions Development Program (SA-LED).

Stephanie Craig

Stephanie Craig is an economist at DNA with a keen interest in economic development, public policy and systems thinking. Prior to joining DNA Economics, Stephanie was part of the Innovative Finance Initiative at the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship. There, she worked on projects relating to Social Impact Bonds, NGO Financial Sustainability and Innovative Financing for Higher Education and Workforce Development.  She also completed a Best Practices Research internship at Frost & Sullivan, Cape Town, and a semester abroad program at Sciences Po, Paris. Stephanie graduated with a Business Science degree in 2013, specialising in Economics and Law, and is currently completing her Masters in Economic Development at the University of Cape Town.

Zama Madlala

Zama Madlala is an Office Administrator at DNA. In this position, she assists the Operations Manager with administrative functions relating to finance, human resources, and support the functioning of the office with general office administration tasks. Prior to joining DNA Economics, she worked as a Service Administrator at Murstek Limited in Service Department. Zama’s passion is helping people and therefore her ability to build good relationships, support, and actively participate in, and contribute to any team initiatives is some of her strongest skills.  

Ronald Rateiwa

Michèlè Capazario  

Michèlè is a junior economist at DNA economics. Prior to joining DNA, Michele was an economics lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand in the School of Economic and Business Sciences. He is interested in macroeconomics, with a research focus currently on income distribution between classes and the impact that shifts in that distribution have on the general macroeconomy.

Michele has undergraduate roots in economics, as well as insurance and risk management, while more recently completing an Honours and Masters degree in Economic Sciences (both Cum Laude) from Wits University. His Honours thesis focussed on creating interest rate rules for emerging market economies, while his Masters thesis dealt primarily with ways in which to measure inflation and inflation expectations in emerging markets given the influence of globalization.

lauralyn Kaziboni

Tlangelani Ngwenya

CISKA KRUGER

Prof. Lawrence Edwards

Lawrence Edwards is a Professor in the School of Economics, University of Cape Town. Lawrence graduated with a MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics in 1998. He completed his PhD in Economics at the University of Cape Town in 2003.

Lawrence's research falls within the field of international trade with a specific focus on international trade and labour, the determinants of trade flows and economic adjustments to trade liberalisation. He has published in a number of international and local journals including World Development, Journal of International Development, South African Journal of Economics and Journal of Studies in Economics and Econometrics. He has also consulted widely with the World Bank, the National Treasury, the Department of Trade and Industry and is currently a member of the South African Growth Project managed by the Centre of International Development at Harvard University. 

Trudi Makhaya

Trudi Makhaya is CEO of Makhaya Advisory, a research, advisory and stakeholder engagement firm. She serves as a non-executive director at Vumelana Advisory Fund and MTN South Africa. She is a trustee of the Educational Empowerment Fund, a shareholder in Mapei South Africa. 
An active public commentator, Trudi writes a column for Business Day. She has also published academic articles on competition economics and policy. Trudi holds an MBA and an MSc in Development Economics from Oxford University, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar. 

Trudi was an economist and later a member of the executive committee at the Competition Commission of South Africa from 2010 to 2014. She joined the Commission as Principal Economist, assessing the competitive effects of mergers and acquisitions, analysing complex competition enforcement cases and appearing as an expert witness at the Competition Tribunal. Trudi represented the Commission at various international fora including the OECD, BRICS, International Competition Network and the African Competition Forum.
Prior to joining the Competition Commission in 2010, Trudi held various management consulting and corporate roles at Deloitte South Africa, Genesis Analytics and AngloGold Ashanti.
In her spare time, Trudi writes fiction. Her recent work has been published in New Contrast and the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Anthology Vol IV.

Prof. Channing Arndt

Channing Arndt currently manages a long term capacity building and policy analysis project in Mozambique. He has published extensively in leading academic journals. His research program has focused on trade policy, the evolution of poverty, the implications of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, technological change, infrastructure investment, and climate variability in agriculturally dependent economies. He has taught courses in quantitative methods at Purdue University, in the USA, and has played a key role in the extension of the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) to Africa. He is currently a Visiting Professor within the Department of Economics at the University of Copenhagen and an Associate with the Development Economics Research Group.  Channing holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University.

Prof. Frank Flatters

Frank Flatters (PhD) is Professor Emeritus of Economics at Queens University, Canada, where he taught from 1971 to 2002. He also has taught at the University of Chicago, The Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Essex, and has held research posts at Harvard University, the London School of Economics and University College London. He has published five books and written numerous monographs and articles. Frank has extensive experience on trade policy issues in Southern Africa - as an adviser to SADC, USAID, the World Bank, the Government of Mozambique, and the National Treasury of South Africa. His work in the region has focused on tariff reform, trade facilitation and industrial development; including assessments of particular sectors and regulatory distortions. You can learn more about Frank at www.frankflatters.com. 

DR Volker Schoer

Volker Schöer is an Associate Professor of Economics in the School of Economic and Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand. Volker holds a MA (Economics) from the University of Cape Town and a PhD (Economics) from the University of the Witwatersrand. 

Volker is the director of the African Micro-Economic Research Unit (AMERU) at the University of the Witwatersrand which focuses on quantitative impact evaluations. He has investigated active labour market policies and interventions in the education sector using experimental and quasi-experimental designs. While Volker’s research has covered a wide range of micro-economic issues in economic development (trade flows and policy, industrial policy, competition policy, labour markets, and firm dynamics), his current research focus lies predominantly within the field of quantitative education research. He has published in a number of international and local journals including International Journal of Educational Development, Journal of International Development, Review of Development Economics, South African Journal of Economics, and the South African Journal of Education. He has also consulted and collaborated widely with the World Bank, the IMF, the Swiss National Science Council, the National Treasury, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results (CLEAR), the Department of Basic Education, and the Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training (Umalusi).

Anthea Dallimore

Anthea Dallimore has over fifteen years’ experience as a development economist, researcher and evaluator. She has worked as an independent consultant, for a large humanitarian INGO (World Vision), and as the managing director of a national socio-economic research agency (Development Research Africa). Whilst at World Vision she managed a global innovation and capacity building programme on Local Economic Development, which was implemented in over 20 countries, and at DRA she oversaw a number of national surveys that ranged in sample size from 3 000 to over 10 000 households. Her interests lie in the areas of public policy, monitoring and evaluation, and applied research methods. Her thematic areas of expertise include poverty, local economic development, financial inclusion and civil society. Other than her knowledge of the South African context, her work assignments have also taken her to Mauritius, Kenya, Uganda, Cambodia, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, U.S.A, U.K, Germany, Armenia and Lebanon. She has a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Newcastle (Australia), a Masters in Development Studies from UKZN, and a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Dr Natasha Ward

Natasha Ward is an independent trade policy expert, with specialist experience in the area of trade in services.  Until September 2012, Natasha worked for DNA Economics as the Trade in Services Advisor with the USAID Southern Africa Trade Hub (SATH) project.  Prior to joining SATH and DNA Economics, Natasha was a consultant to the Geneva-based International Trade Centre, the Barbados Private Sector Trade Team and the Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services of the University of the West Indies. She has also worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Barbados.   Natasha has had brief stints at World Trade Organisation, World Trade Institute and the American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago. 

She holds a Master of International Law and Economics degree (summa cum laude) from the World Trade Institute in Berne and a Doctorate in International Relations from the University of the West Indies.  Her research interests include trade in services, investment, regional integration issues as well as migration.   

Liz Dartnall

Liz Dartnall is a health policy specialist with strong research, public policy and project management experience. She was a researcher at the Center for Health Policy, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; has worked for the Health Department's of both Western Australia and South Africa; and was Senior Programme Manager for AMREF South Africa. Liz has a Post-graduate Degree in Psychology from Curtin University in Australia and a Masters in Science (Medicine) from the University of the Witwatersrand. She is Project Manager of the Sexual Violence Research Initiative of the Global Forum for Health Research, hosted by the South African Medical Research Council.