Young bright sparks at the forefront of innovation
YOUNG people are making their mark in all spheres of life, and are at the forefront of innovation, technology and business.
Exemplifying this is Alanna Rebelo, 30. She has become the first student from the faculty of agricultural sciences at Stellenbosch University to be awarded a joint doctorate by Stellenbosch University and the University of Antwerp – a PhD in conservation ecology and entomology.
Rebelo hails from a family of scientists. “It is important that we give nature a voice and protection, because the protection and restoration of our nature should be a national priority,” she said.
Zsa-Zsa Boggenpoel, 33, is another young academic whizz from Stellenbosch University, where she was awarded her PhD in 2010 at the age of 26. Last year, at 32, she was promoted to full professor in the department of public law at the university. She specialises in property law, constitutional property law and property theory.
She spoke about her journey in life, and the difficulties encountered while being raised by a single mother: “Being a child from Hermanus, from a small area known as Mount Pleasant, is a challenge on its own. It requires one to know what they want to be in life – more especially people like me raised by a single parent who worked in a grocery store.
“I never knew that my journey would end in law; I always dreamt of accountancy until registration day, when I heard fellow students talking about law. That is when I decided to register for a BCom law degree.”
Tshitso Mosolodi, 28, is an entrepreneur, the director of fintech company Snake Nation, and chief executive ofBe Bold, an organisation that encourages innovation and entrepreneurship at universities.
Mosolodi graduated from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology with a BTech degree in mechanical engineering. “South Africa is packed with problems; out of those problems I saw an opportunity and that is what motivated me to start this (Be Bold).
“We always cry that our youth are struggling to get employment... I challenge young people to think and get more ideas in life,” said Mosolodi.
Also driving innovation are Banele Mhlongo and Vuma Mthembu, fourthyear medical students at UCT. They are developing an app they hope will improve the service offered to patients with hearing disabilities at health-care facilities, and their understanding of common diseases.
The initiative grew from a three-month pilot project to introduce South African sign language as an extra-curricular subject for their third-year counterparts last year.
The app is aimed at the approximately four million deaf people in South Africa. “The deaf community has no alternative language other than sign; lip reading is insufficient, and during examination about 70% of a diagnosis comes from the patient’s history. To get a good history, you need to ask relevant questions that the patient can understand and respond to,” said Mhlongo.