Mandy was born in Ongwediva, Namibia, where she spent the first 6 years of her life. Raised in Ongwediva, she attended the Ongwediva International School and soon after, attended boarding school at the then, prestigious Karibib Private School, in Karibib, Namibia. Subsequently, she relocated to Windhoek (Namibia) to start Year 4 until Year 13 at the renowned Windhoek International School. There, she excelled in High School with an International Baccalaureate majoring in Economics, History and Biology. From early childhood, Mandy was exposed to varying cultures and it shaped her propensity to be globally minded. It was also during this time that she learned French.
After completing Year 13, Mandy attended the world-class Australian institution, Monash University in Johannesburg, South Africa. She received her Bachelors, majoring in Marketing and International Relations. In addition to her academia, she was selected as the Main Speaker for Monash’s United Nations’ Conference. During university vacation in Windhoek, she worked as an Executive Assistant on the Executive Floor of Capricorn Investment Holdings and was committed to revolutionize for the betterment of the company through the tasks bestowed upon her. After, she went on to complete her Honours Bachelor of Business and Commerce at Monash University in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. There, she majored in International Business, with her Thesis Topic focusing on the Difference in Consumer Behaviour between Malays, Indians and Chinese.
After graduating in 2010, Mandy had two short stints in two Leisure Resorts companies based out of Namibia and Nigeria, but governed from the United Kingdom. She was heading up the Marketing departments. Over time, she realized that her life purpose is to challenge the status quo for the greater good and realized that entrepreneurship is where her heart laid. She started Gloca, an online product distribution company that focused on democratizing global access for African consumers, in just a few months, won First Place in the Golden Fox Best Business Idea of the Year Competition by Global Business Labs in April 2014.
Mandy was one of nine Namibians selected for the inaugural class of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, a flagship program by former American President Barack Obama. While participating in the Fellowship at the highly rated University of Texas at Austin, in the Business and Entrepreneurship track, she was privilege to visit the offices of global brands such as Google, Rackspace, amongst many others, and met the thriving entrepreneurship community in Austin, the Live Music Capital of the world. In addition, she was inducted as a Member of the Alamo Chamber of Commerce in San Antonio, Texas. After six weeks, in July 2014, she flew to Washington DC to attend a Presidential Summit with Barack and Michelle Obama with 499 other young African leaders.
Out of 500 young African leaders, Mandy was one of 100 selected for an internship and she headed to the World Headquarters of Coca-Cola in Atlanta from August to September 2014. Interning at the Global Public Affairs and Communications department under the supervision of experienced global leader, Dana Bolden, Mandy requested to spend an hour each week in all the major departments of Coca-Cola to develop a better understanding of how a global company works. Her experience was unparalleled. Part of her internship involved travelling to five cities in India as part of a social media experiment and she began to experience a paradigm shift observing how Coca-Cola was building its local distribution presence in India while empowering women entrepreneurs. Mandy blogged about the trip on the front page of Coca-Cola’s global website here: https://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/women-of-the-web-an-india-story
After being away from home for close to four months, Mandy headed back home to Windhoek and rested. After a few days at home, she was asked to travel to Nairobi, Kenya for three months for another internship at Microsoft. It was while integrating in the SME community in Nairobi that Mandy conceptualized and envisioned Youthia. A few months later (April 2015), she was awarded a Certificate from Ohio University in Advanced Leadership and Innovation for Social Change, Capacity Building, Mentorship and Networking. In October 2015, she travelled to the oil capital of Kazakhstan, Atyrau, for two weeks, to attend the Africana Oil and Gas Training and realized the transformative role of major sectors. She was selected as one of two Speakers at the Final Closing Event officiated by dignitaries and other leaders.
Since then, Youthia has been featured in various local and international publications, has a growing continental presence and was endorsed as a ‘disruptor’ at Youthia’s Media Launch on 27 September 2017 at Hilton Windhoek by the former Minister of Sport, Youth and National Service, Honourable Jerry Ekandjo. Mandy’s current focus is on fundraising, business development and strategic direction. Mandy spends a majority of her time building upon the Youthia Protocol, promoting Youthia and looking for opportunities to transform the most important and profitable economy of the future, the youth, with blockchain technology.
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