Presenter:

Tony Hawkins was founder-director of the Graduate School of Management (GSM) at the University of Zimbabwe and now Professor of Economics at the GSM. He is a consultant for an international bank and writes widely on African economic issues.

Presenter:

Sandy Lowitt obtained a Baccalaur ©at International in Geneva and went on to complete a Master of Commerce (MCom) degree in economics at the University of the Witwatersrand. She taught Economics at Wits University until 1994 when she joined the Gauteng Department of Finance and Economic Affairs. She still lectures part-time at Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS).

In her 11 years in the Gauteng government, Sandy was responsible for the development and maintenance of a provincial economic database, the drafting of the provincial Trade and Industrial Strategy, the development of various agencies such as Gauteng Economic Development Agency (GEDA) and Gauteng Tourism Authority (GTA), negotiating international economic agreements between the province and its counterparts, and the creation and operation of the province's strategic economic infrastructure programme, Blue IQ.

As the CEO of Blue IQ Holdings and as the strategic operating officer of Blue IQ, Sandy was on the board of directors of seven of Blue IQ's subsidiary companies. She chaired, for instance, the Board of the Innovation Hub, that of the Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC), that of the Automotive Supplier Park and that of the Newtown Development Company.

In 2005 Sandy left the Gauteng government and became a consultant. She has been working with the Economic Development and Growth Initiative (EDGI) at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) since 2005, focusing on sectoral studies and industrial policy issues. During this period she has also worked with various government departments, research organisations and donor programmes.

The seminar will be chaired by Professor Mike Morris [BA (UCT) BA Hons (UCT) MA (Sussex) PhD (Sussex)]

Visiting Professor and Principal Researcher, School of Economics, University of Cape Town and Research Professor, School of Development Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Professor Morris has a long engagement in policy oriented research, working with government, and assisting firms and industries. He has assisted the South African Department of Trade and Industry, the provincial governments of KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Northern Province with industrial policy work. He has also worked with the International Trade Centre (Geneva) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (Vienna). He has undertaken research and policy work for a number of international agencies including the European Union (EU), Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), DANSET, International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC).

He has published widely in the areas of globalization, the impact of Asian Drivers on Africa, global value chains and international competitiveness, industrial development and policy, clusters and learning networks, sectors and innovation, and economic development. He is also director of a company (Benchmarking and Manufacturing Analysts) which assists firms and government with upgrading, competitiveness and industrial strategies. He currently Heads a networking project, PRISM (Policy Research in International Services and Manufacturing) in the School of Economics at UCT.

Presenter: 

Victor Tokman is an economic advisor to the President of Chile, based in Santiago. He has a doctorate degree in economics from Oxford University, an MA in Development Studies from the University of Chile and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) degree from the University of Rosario in Argentina. He has also received Doctorates Honoris Causa from the University of Rosario and from the Pontifical Catholic University in Peru. He also obtained the Rector Medal from the University of Chile.

Victor Tokman served, until June 2005, as the Assistant Director General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and as the ILO's Regional Director for the Americas. He has worked with the ILO for 28 years, previously as Director of the Employment Development Department in Geneva and Director of the Regional Employment Programme for Latin America and the Caribbean (PREALC) in Santiago.

Victor has taught at the University of Chile and the Catholic University of Chile. He has been a visiting lecturer at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) in Sussex and at the Economic Growth Center of Yale University.

He is recognised worldwide as one of the leading experts on informal sector issues. He has written numerous papers and books on this subject as well as on poverty and employment issues.

Reducing Exchange Rate Volatility and Supporting Competitiveness

Co-ordinators

Prof. Dr. E. Schaling

Prof. Dr. E. Schaling studied macroeconomics at the Faculty of Economic and Business Administration at Tilburg University, the Netherlands, currently Europe's number one faculty in terms of research output.

After obtaining his doctorate at the same university with a thesis entitled 'Institutions and Monetary Policy: Credibility, Flexibility and Central Bank Independence', he joined the Monetary Analysis Division of the Bank of England. In 1998 he moved to South Africa and became full Professor of Economics at the University of Johannesburg.

He has been a consultant to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the Dutch Central Bank, the Bank of Finland and the European Central Bank. He is a fellow at the Center for Economic Research at Tilburg University and at the Centre for Dynamic Macroeconomic Analysis, University of St. Andrews in the UK. In South Africa he has been an adviser to the National Treasury, to the South African Reserve Bank, to the Southern African Development Community (SADC), to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Finance, the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) and to the Presidency.

Dr. Schaling was appointed, in 2007, South African Reserve Bank Chair at the University of Pretoria.

Nicola Viegi

Nicola Viegi is an Associate Professor in economics at the University of Cape Town. A graduate from the Scottish Doctoral Programme in Economics, he has been a lecturer in economics at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, invited lecturer at the University of Malta and the Ecole Superior de Commerce in Toulouse and is currently Visiting Scholar at De Nederlandsche Bank . He studied economics at the University of Pisa in Italy. Before UCT, he was a senior lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

His main areas of research are economic policy theory, macroeconomic modelling and regional macroeconomic integration. Current research includes inflation targeting under uncertainty, monetary policy and asset prices, and macroeconomic integration in Southern Africa.

A Review of South Africa's Industrial Policy

Co-ordinator:

Stephen Hanival is the Director of TIPS. He holds an MSc Degree in Economics from the University of London and an undergraduate degree from the University of Cape Town. He was previously the Chief Director: Services Sectors and the Director of Policy Analysis and Strategy at the South Africa Department of Trade & Industry and also served as a part-time member of the Board on Tariffs and Trade. His areas of research include industrial policy and small business development.

Multiple Crops and Local Distribution Models for Poverty Alleviation: Feasibility and Recommendations

Co-ordinator:

Tracy van der Heidjen (independent consultant: ComMark): Tracy holds an Honours degree in Economics and Law from Wits. She has 7 years economic research experience in banking (at the Treasury) and stock broking, and 5 years in financial services. Tracy was the MD of an asset management company and the MD of an asset management administration company.

Since 2003, Tracy has been working as an independent consultant. Her work includes public sector reform in Malawi, the implementation of various parts of the new National Credit Act for the NCR and economic analysis work for City of Johannesburg. She has also undertaken various studies for the HSRC, largely around job creation.