Nelson Mandela University alumnus Anamandla Zweni has been selected as one of the Top 10 recipients of the GradStar awards.
The former Hillside High School pupil beat more than 7,000 students from 25 South African universities to earn the accolade.
The GradStar programme recognises South Africa’s most employable students based on leadership, adaptability, and problem-solving skills, with the finalists being whittled down from the Top 500 to the Top 100 and finally to the Top 10.
NMU LLB student Inathi Memka was also named among the Top 100 students.
Zweni completed a Diploma in IT (software development) at NMU in 2024.
He will also be graduating cum laude with a BTech/advanced diploma in ICT (applications development) from CPUT in April this year and is studying for a postgraduate diploma in ICT (artificial intelligence & data science) at CPUT.
Zweni has also recently applied for an MSc in financial engineering at an online, nationally accredited American university and was accepted after achieving 93% in the quantitative proficiency entrance exam.
He is now in the pre-matriculation phase of the programme.
Zweni said he believed the secret to his success was a solid foundation of leadership and structured problem-solving.
“During my studies at Mandela University, I explored and participated in international leadership programmes, namely the McKinsey Forward Program and the Aspire Leaders Program (sponsored by Harvard Business School).”
He said these programmes helped him develop adaptive leadership, problem-solving, and effective communication skills.
During GradStar Week in Johannesburg, students participated in time-limited business problem-solving workshops with sponsor companies.
The 21-year-old, who enjoys applying computational methods in artificial intelligence and data science, particularly research, attributes his success to his ability to combine technical and analytical expertise with visionary leadership.
His BTech/advanced diploma mini-thesis focused on Computational Biomedicine: Using Machine Learning to Predict and Classify Drug-like Molecules for the Treatment of Sickle Cell Disease.
Career aspirations
Zweni said his career goal is to become a financial engineer or quantitative analyst, working at the intersection of finance and technology, with an interest in quantum-inspired machine learning for optimising trading and financial systems.
He is also working on a tech start-up, Aeonium Technologies, aimed at helping small and medium enterprises use financial data to grow their businesses through accessible technology and innovation.
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