Keith Lockwood completed a Bachelor of Commerce Degree at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1986, majoring in Economics and Business Information Systems.
He was awarded the B Com Honours Degree in Economics (through part-time studies) in 1989, which entailed the advanced courses in Macro- and Micro- economics, Development Economics, and the Development of Economic Thought.
His Honours Degree dissertation was titled “Investment – The Key to Development”. Keith has spent more than a decade as a senior economist at both the SA Chamber of Business and the erstwhile SA Federated Chamber of Industries.
Keith Lockwood currently a part-time lecturer in the Economics Department of Rand Afrikaans University and at the Gordon Institute of Business Science.
Since commencing work as an economic consultant Keith Lockwood has participated in research and advisory projects across a number of different sectors and policy fields, ranging from financial services, construction, infrastructure, and local economic development to skills development, regional integration, tax policy and industrial policy.
In many cases this has necessitated an integration of detailed quantitative analysis (often of data generated through surveys that were unique and integral to the studies concerned) with qualitative
perspectives arising from interactions with business people, academics and policy-makers.
Some of the more significant of these studies include: a detailed study of foreign direct investment in South Africa for the Presidency; evaluation of the pricing of, and access to, different types of consumer credit products in South Africa for the National Credit Regulator; an assessment of the impact of Gauteng’s Blue IQ initiative on the structure and performance of the Gauteng economy; the development of policy proposals.
Together with PWC – for the VAT treatment of merit goods on behalf of National Treasury; an assessment of the sensitivity of the Expanded Public Works Programme to changes in labour standards; the development of regional economic development plans for development regions within the Johannesburg Metro; and the identification of business opportunities in Africa for Blue IQ.
Keith Lockwood also authored the “Infrastructure Expenditure Tracker” for the Support Programme for Accelerated Infrastructure Development (SPAID) and recently developed a National Investment Promotion Strategy for Trade and Investment South Africa.
In 2010, was appointed to a five-person expert review panel to assess the sector skills plans of SETAs, and more recently was a member of a task team established by the Human Resources Development Council to review the skills system and make recommendations for its reform.
In response to the rapid increase in rhino poaching, Keith Lockwood developed a model of the market for rhino horn to assist in developing appropriate policy choices, and has been appointed to serve on a panel of experts to advise the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs in the lead up to the next
CITES Congress of the Parties in 2016.
In addition to his consulting work, Keith Lockwood is also an adjunct faculty member of the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) – ranked in the top 40 for corporate education globally by the Financial Times and regularly makes presentations to some of South Africa’s leading corporations.
Economic and business consultancy work has included:
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Mandla Isaacs is a public speaker, and facilitator. He is Managing Director of Zehuti Advisory, a communications and strategy firm.
His main areas of expertise and interest are: political economy, business strategy/trends, South African and African development, international relations, public policy/administration and politics.
His career has spanned management consulting, including with McKinsey – where he advised companies and governments across Africa on strategy and change management – as well as public service, where he was head of research and speechwriting for the Minister of Home Affairs and Finance.
In four years in government, Mandla wrote speeches for Parliament, investors, foreign diplomats and communities, among other stakeholders.
He also wrote two budget speeches – the October 2017 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement Speech, and the February 2018 Budget Speech – which are two of the most closely followed communications on the national calendar.
He regularly provides analysis on South Africa-focused political economy, international relations and development issues in online columns, on radio and TV.
He is a former champion debater and coach in British Parliamentary-style university debating.
Mandla Isaacs – Political Economist was educated in the United States (BA Political Science, Howard University) and South Africa (MA International Relations).
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Astrid Ascar has worked in the media industry for more than twenty years. Astrid Ascar – Financial Journalist career spans over the television, radio, print and more recently, the mobile and digital mediums.
She began her career as a journalist on radio, working as a reporter and as a presenter in the current affairs, news, business and entertainment genres. She was a news reader on Highveld and SAFM for more than 10 years and she made the transition to television in 1994, as one of the 6 Chief Anchors who guided viewers through the SABC’s week-long live TV coverage of the country’s historic 1994 elections. She spent the following few years as a current affairs TV anchor and producer and she has executively produced dozens of television series for a range of various audiences.
In 1999, Astrid made the transition into management and financial journalism where she joined the BDFM Group and she has two television channel start-ups: DSTV’s Summit and The Home Channel), as well as the launch of a radio business under her belt.
Apart from BDFM and AVUSA, Astrid Ascar has worked with numerous media brands including Carte Blanche, the SABC, Naspers, Multichoice, MNET, CNBC Africa and DSTV Mobile.
She has an MBA from Henley in the UK and in 2009, she went solo as a consultant with a client base that includes listed and non-listed corporates, SME’s, agencies and tertiary education institutions.
She presents talks, facilitates workshops, and she trains consultants in a range of areas including:
Astrid’s media training clients include FNB (a range of business units), Huawei, Momentum Investments, Stanlib, Premier Foods, Pro Sano, Wits Business School, GIBB, Lonmin and Lafarge.
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Dr Martyn Davies is the Managing Director of Emerging Markets & Africa at Deloitte Africa. He also leads the Africa firm’s China and Japan Services Group.
Over his career, he has been an advisor to a large array of multinational firms on their market entry & engagement strategies in Africa.
He has also conducted a large amount of advisory work on behalf of the public sector.
He has previously been ranked the # 1 analyst in South Africa in the “Other African Economies & Markets” category as awarded by the Financial Mail in its Annual Analysts of the Year awards.
He is a Senior Fellow at the MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth – a group comprising leading international economists which works on subjects relating to macro-economy and inclusive growth.
He is also a member of MasterCard’s MENA & Africa Knowledge Fora providing strategic advice to the management of MasterCard in the Middle East & African regions.
Dr Martyn Davies was selected in 2010 as a Young Global Leader, an honour bestowed by the World Economic Forum each year to recognise the most distinguished young leaders nominated below the age of 40 from around the world and has served in various advisory capacities at the WEF.
Martyn completed his PhD at the University of the Witwatersrand at the age of 25, has studied at Yonsei University (Seoul) and has completed executive programs at Harvard Business School, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Yale University and Said Business School at Oxford University.
He has previously been on the faculty at Stellenbosch University and the University of Pretoria, as well as at the business schools of both universities.
Dr Martyn Davies is a Visiting Professor at IE Business School, Madrid, Spain.
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