Young leaders engaging with United Nations decision-makers

Tumi Mkhize Malebo

Partnerships Fellow

South Africa, 23

Tumi is passionate about driving Africa’s economic development. Her career has centered around economic research in Africa.She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Econometrics from the University of Johannesburg and Honours degree in Economics from the University of South Africa.

Previously, Tumi joined the African Futures and Innovation Programme at the Institute for Security Studies. There, she authored foresight reports on the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and Cote d’ivoire. She also co-authored the Gabon chapter of the UNDP report “Advancing Inclusive Development: Policy options for Burkina Faso, Guinea, Gabon, Mali, and Niger”. During her ISS tenure, she honed her skills in scenario-modeling with the International Futures (IFs) tool.

In March 2025, Tumi contributed to a panel discussion at the sixty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69/Beijing+30). She called for periodic gender equality reports from African Union member states to enhance accountability and advocated for stronger data collection efforts through partnerships with the African Development Bank and the African Centre for Statistics.

Today, Tumi works in the banking industry. Drawing on her background in both policy research and financial services, she is eager to help shape strategies that support Africa’s economic resilience and inclusive growth.