Tracey Swart, a highly respected business leader with more than 20 years of experience in Durban, has joined Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator to assume leadership of the KZN business development team. As Key Account Executive, Swart will map out a strategy to build partnerships with local employers, helping them create more inclusive workplaces and hire rigorously matched, work-ready employees.

Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator builds African solutions to tackle the global challenge of youth unemployment. It partners with governments, businesses, young people and many others who are committed to deliver results that can work at scale.

With more than 20 years of experience in financial services, business development and globally transacted services, Swart has held senior management positions in global organisations including Blake Group and Standard Bank and is a board member of both the Council for Debt Collectors and the Association of Debt Recovery Agents. She was formerly also on the board of BPeSA KZN.

A long-time Harambee champion, Swart says: “I’ve reached a stage where I need a more meaningful challenge than making and saving money for clients. I want to be part of the solution to South Africa’s unemployment challenge.”

As South Africa’s most densely populated province, KZN presents specific challenges. “The scope and scale of unemployment here is very different from the Western Cape and Gauteng, where there is more economic activity,” says Swart. “Harambee has so much value to add and I’m very focused on not only growing existing sectors but on finding the pockets of opportunity to be leveraged in untapped niches.”

“The addition of Tracey to our team comes at a pivotal moment in our strategic growth,” says Mosuoe Sekonyela, Chief Operating Officer at Harambee. “As our business model evolves, there are great opportunities for Harambee to focus on non-traditional employment solutions and Tracey will be an asset to us and our partners in the province.”

Swart concludes that Harambee’s strong commercial sensibility and business-minded approach suits her perfectly.

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Connect with Tracey Swart on LinkedIn.