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.

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 and is the head of DNA's Trade, Investment and Regional Integration practice. He has been involved in a wide number of DNA’s trade research and training activities. This includes assessing the impact of different trade policy options (using partial and general equilibrium models); the development of trade and tariff databases for trade negotiations’ analysis; and consultations and case studies across Southern Africa. More recently he has been involved in a number of studies on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), including for clients such as the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Secretariat, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Union Commission

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 BComm (Hons) degree in Industrial and Organisational Psychology.

Tlale Matseke

Tlale Matseke is a consultant under the EU- SA Partners for Growth Programme, responsible for Market Access and Advocacy. Her professional experience is in the agricultural sector, with a specific focus on business development, programme coordination as well as the facilitation of public and private sector partnerships for agricultural development.

Previously, she was a Project Manager in the Project Development Facilitation unit at the Land Bank. Her career began in commercial agribusiness banking at Barclays Africa and she has since worked on policy advocacy, capacity building initiatives, programme reporting & knowledge management with national farmers’ organisations across several countries in southern Africa as Programme Coordinator at SACAU. Tlale holds a BCom Economics degree from the University of Pretoria, with a BCom (Honours) Agricultural Economics and is currently pursuing a Masters in Development Finance at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business.

Sajid Sherif

Sajid is a junior economist at DNA Economics. Prior to joining DNA, he completed an internship at Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS), he has experience with projects in the Industrial policy arena where he was involved in the construction and analyses of surveys rolled out to the plumbing and electrical industries in order to provide insights to assist industry bodies and policy makers to upgrade said industries. Sajid has a keen interest in social development and a passion for inclusive growth in South Africa. He holds a Masters degree cum laude in Economics from the University of Kwa-ZuluNatal.

Keatlaretse Mooketsi

Keatlaretse is an economist at DNA Economics with a keen interest in the education, skills and SMME sectors, specifically with regard to the mechanisms through which these sectors contribute to economic development. During her career as a researcher, she has assimilated substantial knowledge pertaining to the Fibre Processing and Manufacturing sector, Financial Services sector, as well as the Media and ICT sector. This knowledge was specifically used to inform economic sector plans aimed at addressing the prevalent skills gaps in South Africa.

During her internship at Statistics South Africa, she was also afforded the opportunity to sharpen her quantitative research abilities. In the Research and Product Development component of the internship, she contributed to the drafting of national reports such as the Poverty Trends Report and the Living Conditions Survey.

Keatlaretse is currently completing her Master’s degree in Economics at the North West University.

Matthew KENSETT

Matthew is a junior economist at DNA. Prior to joining DNA, he worked as a part-time research assistant at the Southern African Labour and Development Research Unit where he assisted with research related to the funding of public higher education. His research interests lie broadly at the intersection of labour, development, and ecological economics. Matthew’s past research focused on the distributional impacts of a South African carbon tax on household incomes and topics related to informal employment. He has a keen interest in micro econometrics and applying big data techniques to economic analysis. Matthew holds a BBusSc in Economics and is currently completing his MCom in Economics at the University of Cape Town.

Siwapiwe Madubela 

Siwapiwe is a junior economist at DNA with a keen interest in political economy, policy (formulation, analysis and advisory), trade, regional integration, and monitoring and evaluation. Prior to working at DNA, he completed a traineeship at the Delegation of the European Union to South Africa where he monitored, analysed and advised on issues pertaining to South Africa’s foreign policy and foreign engagements. He has also worked in youth development programmes and management consulting. He currently holds two master’s degrees, one in Governance, Development and Public Policy from Institute of Development Studies (University of Sussex) as a Chevening Scholar and the other in International Relations from the University of the Witwatersrand.

Oduor Ochieng

Oduor has joined the Financial Markets and Digital Innovation team at DNA. He is passionate about financial inclusion in capital markets and digital innovation. He has previously worked in Fintech and MedTech start-ups, working with different data analysis techniques. He holds a Honours Degree in Economics from the University of Cape Town.

Astrid Ludin 

Astrid has over 20 years’ high-level experience in South African public policy, in the areas of business regulation, consumer protection and financial inclusion. She held senior positions as a Deputy Director-General in the Department of Trade and Industry and Divisional Manager at the Competition Commission and has served on a number of public sector boards. While Deputy Director-General, she led landmark reforms of credit, consumer protection and company law in South Africa.

Astrid served as the first Commissioner of the South African Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), where she conceived and led the digitalisation of the Companies Register and the digitisation of the IP Office, the introduction of an innovation culture in the office and established collaborative relationships with a range of institutions, including banks. During her tenure, CIPC introduced biometric verification and self-service terminals, as well as automated company registration.

Taking forward her interest in innovation and technology, Astrid helped establish the Innovation Lab at Strate, South Africa’s central securities depository, where she spent two years researching emerging technologies, such as blockchain and artificial intelligence, and designing products for Strate. Astrid is the chairperson of Grassroot, a civic tech non-profit, the Executive Director for the Digital Economy Africa, a non-profit thinktank, and the DNA Practice Manager for Financial Markets and Digital Innovation.

Fouché VENTER

Fouché leads the Public Economics and Modelling practice at DNA Economics. He began his research career in 2011 and has been involved in more than 35 research projects since then. Fouché has worked with government departments, multilateral institutions, donors, and private sector companies. He has extensive experience in programme design, evaluation, public and private sector financial analysis and costing, data analysis, and innovative social financing.Areas of expertise are in education, health, and social protection."

Alexandra spyrelis  

Alexandra is a Senior Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist at DNA Economics. She has over 10 years experience designing and implementing research projects and M&E programmes, primarily within the public health and development sector. To date her work has focused on the psychosocial and behavioural aspects of HIV prevention. She has held various positions on USAID funded projects, including at Tulane University’s Highly Vulnerable Research Center and at various non-governmental organisations (NGOs). This work has been accompanied by publications in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at international conferences. She holds a Masters degree in Research Psychology (with distinction) from the University of the Witwatersrand and is currently pursuing her PhD at Stellenbosch University.

Fatima Mathivha 

Fatima is a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) specialist. Before joining DNA Economics, she provided evaluation expertise to develop monitoring, evaluation and reporting systems at the Development Bank of Southern Africa and conducted evaluations for public and private sector clients as a consultant. Her experience spans across sectors such health, education, social development and infrastructure for private and public sector clients. She is most interested in data visualisation and helping organisations understand impact by measuring what matters.

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.

lauralyn Kaziboni

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.

BIANCA CAPAZARIO

Julita ramsunder 

Julita has a management consulting background where she has worked on a range of strategic projects across industries with a focus on bringing digital technology solutions to Finance teams. She seeks to integrate her learning and experience across economics, business and technology in bringing solutions to clients. She is currently completing her Masters in Economics at the University of the Witwatersrand.

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.  

Zaakirah Ismail

Zaakirah has joined the Public Economics and Modelling team at DNA. She holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of the Witwatersrand. She has worked as an independent consultant for public and private sector clients and as a lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand and Rhodes University. She taught both undergraduate and postgraduate students in microeconomics, macroeconomics, mathematical economics, and financial derivatives. Her areas of expertise include economic evaluations, macroeconomics, policy analysis, and the energy and banking sectors. She particularly excels in quantitative modelling which she has applied in various forms across multiple project.

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.

Nadira Bayat

Nadira Bayat is a Gender and Trade Expert with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), where she leads the approach to gender mainstreaming in African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) National Strategies. Nadira has served in various roles in other United Nations (UN) agencies, including at the International Court of Justice, UN Transitional Administration in East Timor and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda; as well as at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Prior to joining ECA, Nadira was Programme Director at Global Economic Governance (GEG) Africa — a policy research and stakeholder engagement programme, focusing on sustainable development priorities in Africa. She has also held senior positions in the South African Government, including as Counsellor: Multilateral at the Embassy of South Africa in Washington, DC. Nadira has a background in international law. She holds two LLMs - the most recent in International Legal Studies from American University Washington College of Law.

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 the Executive Director of the Sexual Violence Research Initiative - the world’s largest network on research on violence against women and violence against children. 

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. 

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. 

CISKA KRUGER

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).

sARAH TRUEN 

Sarah is an independent economist with a particular interest in evidence based policy making, as well as the competitive framework and regulation of network economies. She has 16 years of experience in providing economic advice to a variety of clients on a consulting basis, including undertaking expert witness testimony at the Competition Tribunal.

Sarah has substantial sector expertise in a number of areas, including transport (rail regulation and public transport), remittance markets, the private health sector, and the liquor industry, and has undertaken regulatory impact assessments of a number of pieces of legislation for national departments of government. She worked with DNA Economics on a project for the Department of Transport, playing a substantial role in the options analysis and regulatory design of the Single Transport Economic Regulator (STER).