Dr. Miriam Altman is a renowned economist, strategist, and thought leader with decades of experience guiding both public and private sector organizations. She has served as a Commissioner on South Africa’s National Planning Commission and played a pivotal role in shaping the country’s first National Development Plan.
A former Chief of Strategy at Telkom, Miriam led its turnaround, helping the company’s share value multiply sixfold while repositioning it in a competitive digital market. She is a passionate advocate for digital adoption in education and currently advises governments and corporates on economic and commercial strategy.
Her work bridges research, policy, and practice. As an Adjunct Professor at UCT’s Graduate School of Development Policy and Practice and a Fellow at CEIBS in Shanghai, she brings global insight to issues of growth, employment, and digital transformation.
Dr. Miriam Altman is recognised as a leading economist, strategist, thought leader and a passionate communicator. She has extensive proven experience in charting uncertainty and achieving great things in difficult circumstances.
She speaks on the future of the South African economy, why South Africa needs a “China Strategy” and more broadly on economic strategy in emerging markets. Miriam shares principles that drove Telkom’s rapid turnaround. A driver of digital adoption, she talks about why digital education in schools is not spreading and what can be done about it.
She is a part-time Commissioner on the National Planning Commission (NPC) in the Office of the South African Presidency. This body was established to guide long term planning for South Africa. She was a significant contributor to the writing of SA’s first National Development Plan.
In her private capacity, she advises governments and companies in their economic and commercial strategies.
Dr. Miriam Altman is passionate about the take up of digital education for school going children in public schools. She is currently Strategic Advisor to the CEO of Extramarks, the leading digital education content and software company in India.
From 2013 to April 2016, Miriam was Chief of Strategy and Regulatory Affairs for the Telkom Group, SA’s largest fixed line telecommunications operator. She was recruited to craft and chart Telkom’s strategic repositioning and turnaround.
In 2013, Telkom was generally disliked by most stakeholders and failing by most metrics. The early success of this programme is reflected in its share value rising by 6 times with significant, sustained improvements in company financials, regulatory matters, customer service and market repositioning.
Miriam Altman was Executive Director at the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa from 2002 to 2013. The “Employment Scenarios” was her flagship at the HSRC.
This drew leaders from government, the private sector, labour and academia together over a period of years to define a vision and practical strategies to address extremely high unemployment in South Africa. The HSRC Employment Scenarios were heavily relied on in the conceptualisation and direction of South Africa’s first National Development Plan.
Miriam has a BA in economics from McGill University, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in economics from the University of Manchester.
She is an Adjunct Professor at the Graduate School of Development Policy and Practice, University of Cape Town, a non-resident Fellow at the Center for Emerging Markets at CEIBS in Shanghai, and associated with Tsinghua University’s Graduate School of Public Policy and Management (Beijing) and Fudan University’s Economics Department (Shanghai).
Miriam Altman has produced more than 100 publications. She was commissioning editor of approximately 400 policy papers and publications, and was guest editor of four special edition journals.
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Dr. Miriam Altman addresses executives on the challenges of navigating uncertainty in rapidly changing industries. She highlights the constant pressure leaders face when making high-stakes investment decisions without certainty about the right technologies or future competition.
She frames “relevance” as a critical measure for organizations whether through market share, cash generation, or the ability to reinvest. She warns that collecting big data is meaningless without clear goals for how it will be used to support profitability and strategy.
Altman stresses that continuous change and adaptation are now the norm. While companies invest heavily in technology and innovation, too little attention is paid to people and behaviors. She calls for senior, well-positioned teams that actively ideate around strategy, competition, and organizational direction—not as side projects but as core functions.
Drawing on her experience as Telkom’s Chief of Strategy, she shares that the most effective work came from creating cross-functional teams to tackle strategic challenges. By involving employees who deeply understand the company, leaders can spark excitement, foster ownership, and ensure integration of new solutions. Conversely, when external consultants dominate problem-solving without staff engagement, outcomes often fail to take root.
00:00 The reality of uncertainty and high-risk decisions
00:30 Defining organizational relevance: market share, profitability, reinvestment
01:05 The role of data: purpose-driven, not just collection
01:40 Continuous adaptation in industries under disruption
02:05 Importance of senior teams focused on innovation and strategy
02:40 Lessons from Telkom: building internal teams to solve strategic problems
03:20 Pitfalls of over-reliance on external consultants
Economic strategy, future of South Africa’s economy, digital disruption, employment policy, corporate turnarounds.
Yes, with case-specific insights drawn from government, telecoms, and education.
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