Gertrude “Trudi” Makhaya is a South African economist, entrepreneur, and writer. She is the economic advisor to President Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa's current president. Makhaya previously worked at Deloitte, Genesis Analytics and AngloGold Ashanti in South Africa. She then worked the Competition Commission of South Africa from 2010 to 2014. In 2015, Makhaya established Makhaya Advisory. Makhaya has several published papers, mainly focusing on competition economics and policy.
Education and work
Makhaya was born and raised in Hammanskraal, Gauteng, South Africa. In 1996, Makhaya enrolled in St Barnabas College, in Bosmont, South Africa. She later received a Rhodes Scholarship and went to St Antony's College of Oxford University as a part of the class of 2002, obtaining an MBA and MSc in developmental economics. Makhaya also went to the University of Witwatersrand and obtained a BCom in Economics and Law, an honors degree in economics and a Masters in Economics.
During her employment at Deloitte, Genesis Analytics and AngloGold Ashanti, Makhaya worked in management consulting and also held corporate positions. In 2010, Makhaya joined the Competition Commission of South Africa, initially as a principal economist. She later held roles as a deputy commissioner and served as a member of the Competition Commission's executive committee. Her job at the Competition Commission was largely focused on competition economics and tasks included assessing competitive effects regarding business decisions as well as analyzing competition enforcement cases. Further tasks included representing the Competition Commission at the Competition Tribunal and serving as an expert witness. Makhaya was also a key figure in the imposing a fine of 1.46 billion rands on several construction companies involved in fraud to raise bids for stadiums for the 2010 FIFA World Cup during her time as deputy commissioner. In 2014, Makhaya left the Competition Commission.
Makhaya established an advisory firm in 2015 called Makhaya Advisory and currently serves as its CEO. The firm's focal points are entrepreneurship and competition policy. It supports new entrepreneurs with establishing their own businesses. Makhaya has further supported new businesses by advising new companies and offering financial by serving as an angel investor to start-up companies. Additionally, Makhaya worked at both MTN South Africa and Vumelana Advisory Fund in non-executive director positions.
In April 2018, Makhaya was appointed as President Cyril Ramaphosa's newest economic advisor. She was the youngest economic advisor in South Africa's history. Makhaya was tasked with organizing and delegating the work of the InvestSA Special Envoys who are to raise at least US$100 billion of international investments by 2023. Makhaya left her post at the end of a five-year term. Some reports suggested the President chose not to renew her contract, while others claimed it was her decision to leave. Some commentators have suggested that the investment pledges project Makhaya was tasked with leading was a failure based on 'empty promises'.
Selected publications
"Competition, barriers to entry and inclusive growth – Capitec case study" (2015) Makhaya co-authored this working paper with Nicholas Nhundu. The paper used Capitec Bank, a retail bank in South Africa, as a case study to analyze barriers to entry in the South African retail banking industry. Capitec's success relative to other entrants into the industry in 2008 was examined to determine which factors contributed to Capitec's success and which barriers Capitec had to overcome to achieve success.
The study found that Capitec's success led to competing banks to respond with implementations to compete with Capitec, as customers were choosing to switch to Capitec due to lower bank charges. Furthermore, customers of competing banks were offered lower costs to switch to Capitec. Convincing customers to switch saw Capitec overcoming a major barrier which was crucial to their success. The paper suggested that their use of a simple and understandable product and their persuading of lending clients to switch into being transactional banking clients, was a factor to their success. It was suggested in the paper that recommendations which arose from a market enquiry into banking also led to improved the competitive environment also contributed to Capitec's success. Despite the success of these methods, they concluded that the switching process could still be improved and among other improvements such as a stricter process to lead to adoption of innovation for future entrants.