Mathias serves as the presidential youth advisor

Rivaldo Kavanga Daisry Mathias is a multi-dimensional Namibian woman, a mother to one and a Christian. She is a patriot and servant leader who is fiercely loyal and devoted to Namibia and committed to contributing towards the transformation of Africa in her lifetime. Mathias currently serves as an advisor to President Hage Geingob on youth matters and enterprise development.The road to presidency Her professional experience ranges from advertising, digital and social marketing, public relations and export promotion. After holding various positions in the finance industry, she was last appointed to serve as CEO of Team Namibia before she stepped down to fill her role as presidential youth advisor.Appointed in 2015, Mathias is essentially the president’s sounding board, policy brief and memo-writer on call, impromptu speech writer, instant researcher, observer, defender, reflector, deflector, intra-governmental policy interpreter and public conscience. She serves as an interface for young Namibians to the presidency, contributing towards policy, strategy and programme formulation and design for the holistic development and economic empowerment of young Namibians. “I work to promote the interests and concerns of young Namibians, providing critical advocacy for the integration, mainstreaming and prioritisation of our needs in pursuit of our dreams under the overarching vision of inclusive growth and shared prosperity,” Mathias added.For the young people“Every challenge and crisis presents an opportunity to solve a problem,” said Mathias. She added that young Namibians need to address issues head-on and meet needs. “Namibia is full of opportunities; it is a matter of perspective and mindset.”She said young leaders need to take themselves more seriously by focusing and discipling themselves and that they need to care less about who they want to become and focus more on the change they want to effect in the community. Unity Mathias added that in order for Namibia to achieve its goals, young Namibians need to come together and develop one another. She said there are three very important roles young people need to fulfil to make the country better. Young people need to develop their capacity and capabilities, whether through education upskilling and reskilling to become multi-disciplinary with diverse skill-sets, she said. Mathias further said young people need to add value by expressing Namibian solutions to Namibian problems and that they need to maintain focus on priorities by holding elected representatives accountable. “There is room for activism, which necessitates public servants to focus, execute, account and maintain transparency,” she added.An academicMathias completed primary school at the Holy Cross Convent and high school at St Paul’s College in Windhoek. After matriculating, she pursued her undergraduate degree in Cape Town, South Africa, at the AAA School of Advertising. She specialised in integrated marketing communications and brand strategy. Thereafter, she obtained a postgraduate honours diploma in business administration from the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business. Mathias added that she still has intentions to continue with her education soon.The future Mathias said the next 10 years in Namibia will be shaped by three factors: Firstly, the Covid-19 public health crisis and its effects on economies, livelihoods and socio-cultural human behaviour and norms; the pivotal generational transition and the pervasiveness of technology, and the dawn of the fifth industrial revolution. However, despite these factors, Mathias envisions that Namibia will prioritise the services industry as a mass employment-creating sector that will be underpinned by technology and education. She added that Namibia will entrench its position as the regional green hydrogen hub, adding that the country could during the next decade embrace its first female president.

Mathias serves as the presidential youth advisor

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Namibian Sun 2022-05-29

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Mathias serves as the presidential youth advisor

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Namibian Sun 2022-05-29

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