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40 South Africans Under 40 Part 1

15 June 2016

Forty years ago South African youth influenced the way today's young South Africans wield their own historical impact on the country.

In this series of profiles, we highlight 40 South Africans born since 1976 who have changed South Africa, or even the world in their own unique way through politics, culture, business, sport and public service.

Jeremy Nell aka Jerm – cartoonist

Tweets by mynameisjerm

Continuing a long tradition of strong, intelligent and sharp political art led by cartoonists such as Zapiro, Rico and Dr Jack, Jeremy Nell, known as Jerm, is currently one of South Africa's best and most widely read satirists. At only 37, he has had a fruitful and eventful career so far, first contributing to The Times and The New Age newspapers before taking his current post as cartoonist-in-residence at Eyewitness News and eNCA websites. He also draws for a number of South African non- news publications. He was a finalist at the 2014 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Awards, named one of the Mail & Guardian's Top 200 Young South Africans in 2012 and a winner of a number of local and international art and journalism awards. Jerm describes himself as "South Africa's 39th best cartoonist", but through his art and acerbic social media presence Jerm has an impressive cool- cache amongst the youth with sardonic observations on the absurdities of South African culture.

Anne Hirsch – comedienne

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Anne Hirsch is South Africa's queen of comedy. The Anne Hirsch Show on Youtube is one of the country's most watched online channels and features interviews with some of the country's most famous, most controversial and most loved personalities, all rounded out with Anne's cheeky humour. Born and raised in Bloemfontein, Hirsch studied drama in Cape Town. She rose to fame winning the David Kau-produced So You Think You're Funny reality show in 2009. In addition to her Youtube channel and a radio show that won an MTN Best Night Time Show award in 2013, Hirsch is also the popular host of the Great South African Bake Off. Hirsch's fun, irreverent and youthful sensibility won her a SAFTA for Best Comedy Writing for the ZANEWS parody show, dislaying a firm but funny finger on the pulse of contemporary South African life.

Redi Tlhabi – radio presenter

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Redi Tlhabi is a no holds barred radio presenter, writer, wife and mother. The undisputed queen of talk radio, Tlhabi's 702 morning show is one of the most popular in the country. She can hold her own against the toughest politicians while showing compassion for ordinary South Africans. "I love the interaction that radio offers," Tlhabi once told the Mail & Guardian newspaper, "it feels more like a dinner table conversation than a programme." With a degree in journalism and honours in social science, Tlhabi understands the complexities of contemporary South African life. She is known to be fearless against inequality and injustice, yet cool and measured in the heat of the debate. Often called the voice of reason in the multimedia noise of the modern world, Tlhabi's Twitter timeline is a constant and vigorous medium of debate and conversation with almost 300 000 followers.

Mokena Makeka – architect

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As one of the country's leading architects, Mokena Makeka is helping create a unique South African aesthetic in its public spaces. His philosophy is to create dignified but modern structures that make South Africans proud of how the country looks to the outside world. His Makeka Design Lab has been involved in a number of high-profile building projects, including the rejuvenation of downtown Johannesburg and renovations to the Cape Town railway station. His company is also involved in the design and building of educational facilities around the country. "I run my studio as a place of learning and enquiry with a purpose," he told Design Indaba. "Architecture is art. It needs personality and bravery." Makeka is the South African representative on the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council for Design and lectures at the University of Cape Town.

Oliver Hermanus – filmmaker

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Oliver Hermanus is one of South Africa's most original filmmakers, using his passion for the art form to both drive social change and entertain audiences. Directing credits include Shirley Adams and Skoonheid. Hermanus tells uniquely South African stories with distinctive flare, yet never falls back on obvious narrative tropes. It is a style that translates both locally and globally, with Shirley Adams scoring SAFTA awards for Best Film and Director in 2009. Skoonheid won acclaim and awards at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011. His latest film, Endless River is another personal story told with great performances and a tangible and earthy film palette. It became the first South African film to compete for the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival, paving the way for an assured international career.

Lauren Beukes – writer

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Lauren Beukes is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter and journalist who specialises in horror and supernatural speculative fiction with a distinctive African flavour. In addition to her fictional work, Lauren has a long tradition of social justice work within the arts community, paving a way forward for quality modern African literature and mentoring up and coming female and black writers. Beukes's second novel, Zoo City, won the 2011 Arthur C. Clarke award for most original and outstanding science fiction work. Her follow-up, The Shining Girls, gained the attention of Stephen King who called it one of the best books he read in the last ten years.

Sifiso Ngobese – entrepreneur

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An entrepreneur with an environmental vision is a rare and necessary combination. While Sifiso Ngobese might not grab headlines like Elon Musk or Mark Shuttleworth, he is starting small by tackling the litter problem in Gauteng. He is using a ubiquitous city staple: the trolley waste collectors, known as the "Abomakgereza". Ngobese's Unconventional Media Solutions (UMS) project, which is quite literally rolling out industrially designed trolley-containers to South Africa’s thousands of waste recyclers, is slowly gaining converts. The project solicits advertising for the trolleys, offering the recyclers a percentage of the profits. The colourful, road safe containers enjoys support from brands such as Collect-A-Can, Nedbank and Red Bull. UMS' first rollout of 200 trolleys in Gauteng, along with waste management and entrepreneurial training for the recyclers, is taking trash collection to a new level.

Alan Knott-Craig Jr – entrepreneur

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Alan Knott-Craig Jr is South Africa's mobile communications king, taking on the big names in the industry and changing the way ordinary South Africans access the internet through mobile devices. Not only was he the CEO of Mxit, the country's largest and most popular mobile social network between 2009 and 2012, he is now heading up the Project Isizwe non-profit initiative to bring free Wi-Fi to the nation. The company's flagship Tshwane operation follows the international model for urban internet accessibility, offering schools, libraries and public spaces user-friendly portals to the world. The project is looking to bring the free Wi-Fi revolution to other major cities in South Africa, but more important, to rural areas. In addition to being one of South Africa's most creative ideas-people, Knott-Craig is also a proudly South African praise-singer for the country and its people. His ground-breaking motivational book Don’t Panic… urges all South Africans to play their role in building the country. His most recent book collaboration, So, You Want To Be A Hero, is a series of essays targeted at motivating young South Africans to break the mould in business and life.

Ashleigh Moolman Pasio – road cyclist

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Ashleigh Moolman Pasio is one of South Africa's top road cyclists, building a quiet but consistent career over the last 10 years. She is the only South African ranked in the International Cycling Union (UCI) top 10 for 2015/16. She has competed in the 2012 Olympics, won bronze at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and won first place in the 2015 African Continental Championships in both road race and time trial categories. Pasio also won last year's 94.7 Cycle Challenge. She has been specifically tipped by Team South Africa coach Frank Dick to be one of the country's medal contenders at the Rio Olympics in August. In a recent interview with Cycling News, she reiterated her passion for the sport and her country, "I hope [I] can inspire other South Africans and Africans to realise that with hard work, determination and sacrifice anything is possible".

Bheki Kunene – entrepreneur

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Entrepreneur Bheki Kunene is one of South Africa's most celebrated and respected business minds, yet his story could have ended up differently. Kunene spend much of his youth trouble-making and on the run from the law, becoming almost notorious in his hometown of Gugulethu. That soon changed, as Kunene said in a 2015 interview with Radio 702, "my turning point came after I felt like giving up on myself. Society deemed me as a misfit and thought I belonged in jail, or dead. I felt I had nothing to lose anyway. The agony fuelled me to wanting to become successful.

Bheki turned his life around and begin his own digital design agency with not much more than an idea, a computer and R600. His company Mind Trix Media is now one of South Africa's top media agencies, celebrated both in South Africa and the world, with clients from four continents. He is ranked as one of Forbes List's 30 most promising young entrepreneurs in Africa for 2015.

Source: Mail & Guardian Young 200 South Africans,Wikipedia, South African History Online and other online sources