Early Life and Education
editBorn on February 7thin Johannesburg South Africa, Thabi Leoka grew up having Nelson Mandela as her role model. Just like Mandela, Thabi wanted to be a lawyer and eventually the President of The Republic of South Africa. She even studied Latin in order to help her with this dream. However, once she was in law school, the slow pace and material made her question her choice to become a lawyer. Thabi’s brother at the time was studying economics at the time, and as soon as she read one of his economics textbooks, she soon left law and moved into the field of economics. Thabi has a MA in International Economics from Witwatersrand University which is located in Johannesburg. She also has an honours in Economics and BA from Witwatersrand University as well. She also has a PhD and a MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics.
Thabi Leoka | |
|---|---|
| Academic career | |
| Field | Economics |
| Alma mater | Wits University (B.A.) Wits University (M.A.) London School of Economics (M.Sc.) London School of Economics (Ph.D.) |
| Website | https://mariegreyspeakers.com/speaker/thabi-leoka/ |
Work
editThabi Leoka began her economic career at a company called Investec Asset Management when she took on the role of the pan-Africa economist for the Africa Fund. Later on, in her life she ventured outside of Africa and became a member of the Emerging Markets team which was based in London. Among working for Emerging Markets and Investec Asset Management she was also worked for Barclays Capital, which is also situated in London fulfilling her same role as an emerging markets economist. She has worked all over the world including but not limited to Brazil, Central Europe and a countless number of African countries. She was identified and approached by Standard Bank, where at the end of 2011, she began to work as Head of Economic Research SA after moving back to South Africa. She is currently working at Argon Asset Management. At times, Thabi works independently as an economic strategist and also attends many conferences as the highlighted speaker. At these talks she shares her knowledge and goes into detail on how to increase economic growth in Africa. Not only is Thabi an independent economist and conference speaker, she also is a writer and writes columns for the Business Times. Within the Business Times she writes for the Business day, Money Marketing and other publications that are recognized globally such as Into Africa. Into Africa is a publication that dives into the capital markets in Africa and BricsPost. She also writes for and is a contributor for BusinessDay, City Press, and the Sunday Times.
Awards
editThabi has received many honorary titles and awards throughout her career as an economist. She is a Financial Mail rated economist, she has been identified as a Changer Maker in 2017 and she was also named Economist of the Year by Absip in 2017 as well. She is a budding activist in additional to her experience working in the financial sector. She is one of the speakers at the Nelson Mandela Bay Leadership Summit 2019. She is also a cliometrician.
Economic Philosophy
editMost of Thabi Leoka’s work is on expert panels speaking on the state of the global economy, but mainly on the economy of South Africa and the African continent. In 2018 South Africa had its first recession since 2008. This “technical” recession according to Leoka was expected due to the lack of economic growth South Africa has been facing recently. The contraction of two consecutive quarters with negative growth is the definition of a technical recession. Leoka states that if the economic state of South Africa has any chance of recovering then those in leadership roles need to recognize that there is in fact a problem. She states that the government itself are not job creators, that job falls on businesses. However, the government needs to create such an environment that businesses are able to operate successfully in a fair and equitable manner. Leoka believes that the private and public sector need to come together, and that South Africans need to have an active hand in claiming and investing in the South African economy. Leoka states that while South Africa needs to attract investments, the only way that there will be sustainable growth is through small businesses and creating barriers on oligarch markets that will allow for small businesses to enter into the free market. When it comes to combating this Thabi, as always, suggests and states the importance in investing in the education sector. The more educated your citizens, the more likely they are to enter into higher paying positions, and the more likely they are to spend in the economy to maintain and increase its growth. Another was Leoka talks about helping the economy is through getting rid of rigidities in the labour market. By implementing more flexible labour hours so that more companies can hire at different time slots, you create more jobs. Thabi also mentions having clearly communicated policies so that business can plan according to those policies and their expected causations.
When it comes to inflation targeting and growth Leoka states that growth should occur through the manufacturing sector, however the exact opposite is happening. The manufacturing sector is actually going through negative growth and Thabi attributes that to policy uncertainty. She states that firms don’t want to invest when they are unsure of what the future holds for them 10 even 15 years down the line. To combat this Leoka states that there needs to be a healthy working environment between all sectors in order to increase economic growth.
Future Career Goals
editOne of her role models is Christine Lagarde[1], who is currently the Managing Director and Chairwoman of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Thabi hopes to emulate Christine Lagarde[1] in her own personal career. One factor that Thabi believes is a necessity in order to drive economic growth is a focus around education in the African continent and also a greater desire for Africans to be a part of the corporate world. Now she hopes that one day she will hold a position in the government at the reserve banks of South Africa as one of their governors.
References
edit[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Lagarde
https://mariegreyspeakers.com/speaker/thabi-leoka/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcACucWbzF4