Amukelani Mayimele

Amukelani Mayimele is a South African social activist, entrepreneur and an aspiring Policy Analyst. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Zayrah Africa (www.zayrah.org). A youth led Development Agency that focuses on socio-economic development of fragile states and youth empowerment. She has since a young age showed great leadership capabilities and was honored as a Gold Graduate by the Student Village Women Leadership Conference in 2008. Amongst some of her memorable work was when she was 26 she delivered a Public Lecture on Democracy to Ambassadors, Government Official, young people and Citizens of Fiji Island at the University of South Pacific in July 2012. When invited across the continent she addresses young people in youth platforms and other discussion covering various topics including the role of youth in development. Through her organization she has designed and initiated two projects that currently run across the continent: African Youth Charter Summit and the African Symposium on Innovative Economies. In 2013 she was a speaker at the YALDA Model African Union conference in Nairobi. She also spoke at the Campus Harvest 2013 Conference in Limpopo, South Africa. She addressed a group of policy makers and economists at the African Economic Conference 2013 cocktail party. She is known to be an outstanding person who loves to speak about governance and social issues, does work on Development and often invited to advice on Policy Matters. Her strengths are clear, she loves finding solutions and she excels at it. She is passionate about Africa and constantly collaborates with young people in projects that work towards the development of the continent. Her daily work often involves designing youth programs, leading a diverse team across the continent, training leaders, capacity building and advising on strategy to social entrepreneurs and change agents in Africa.

Recognition:

2013 - recognized as one of the 28 Nations Greatest in South Africa by the Sunday Times and Johnnie Walker Awards

2014 - Mandela Washington Fellow, University of Carlifornia, Goldman School of Public Policy Alumni