Sam is a trained economist specialising in understanding the complexities of the South African economy. Prior to joining the EICN, Sam spent time in both the public and private sector, first as an economist within the Economic Policy division of the National Treasury, and then as a consulting economist at Econometrix, and Deloitte. During his time in private sector, Sam specialised in analysing events and government policies to dilute these into constructing business strategies. Sam also spent time in Switzerland as an economist for airline industry body IATA. Sam holds a masters degree in economics from Stellenbosch University, and has studied further at the Insitute for Social Studies in The Hague, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Levy Economics Insitute of Bard College in New York State.

André Nortjé is Strate’s Chief Executive Officer. He has over 20 years of executive management experience across multiple financial services disciplines and across multiple jurisdictions with a deep understanding of financial markets from both the buy and sell side. Before joining Strate, André held numerous executive roles ranging from treasurer of a commercial bank to chief operating officer positions for several investment management businesses in South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Director General of New Development Bank (NDB), African Regional Office since April 2018. The NDB is a multilateral development bank established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa with the objective of financing infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies and developing countries, complementing the efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions toward global growth and development
Prior to joining NDB, Monale spent over 7 years at the National Treasury of South Africa. During that period, he held the positions of the Head of Economic Policy (DDG), Acting Head of International and Regional Economic Policy (DDG) as well as Chief Director for Government Debt Management. Prior to joining public sector, Monale spent time in the private sector as Acting CEO and Chief Economist at Thebe Stockbroking and as an Economist and Marco Strategist at ABSA Capital. Those were preceded by various roles at Calyon Corporate and Investment Bank as well as Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank.

Makgola is Managing Director at Bombardier Transportation South Africa. Prior to this, she was the acting Deputy Director-General for Energy in the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) of the South African government with shareholder oversight on Eskom (energy), Safcol (forestry), and Alexkor (mining). In the last ten years, she has gained extensive experience in the energy sector including utility operations, policy formulation, and regulation. She worked as an electrical system engineer and in various management roles for South African power utility, Eskom, and also worked as a senior reliability engineer for gas giant Sasol.

Makgola has served as a non-executive director on the board of Zenzele Technology center, an incubator of SEDA that assists small-scale miners to develop mining technologies and build sustainable businesses. She was co-opted onto the board of the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA). She was elected as one of the top 80 emerging leaders in science and technology in Africa and the Middle East and participated in TechWomen in 2013, an exchange program for women in STEM fields. In 2017 she was listed in the Mail & Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans.

Born in a village from Limpopo, Makgola is a qualified electrical engineer at Eskom and Sasol. Makgola is passionate about people and leadership development and is committed to excellence and good service. She enjoys engaging in politics, current debates, motorsport, and golf. She was a co-founder of STEM-IT-FWD, an NGO that works to stimulate interest and support young black girls to take up a career in STEM.