Andrew is the founder of Numeric. He studied physics at Harvard before returning to South Africa to work as an investment analyst at Allan Gray. With the support of the Potter Foundation, he ran his first maths program pilot in Khayelitsha in 2011 and registered Numeric as a company in 2012. Andrew served as the CEO from 2012-2017 and has since served as a non-executive director.
Sibonelo (CEO) has nine years of experience in the education and development sector ranging from teaching to program delivery and fundraising. After serving as a program manager in Khayelitsha for two years, Sibonelo became Numeric’s business development manager, serving in that position for three years. In 2021 Sibonelo was promoted to the position of CEO. She is passionate about education and works hard to ensure that Numeric is an efficient, impactful and positive force for change in South Africa.
Mahesh is the former chief operating officer of Perpetua Investment Managers, having previously served as an executive director at Allan Gray and head of institutional client servicing. Mahesh has served as a trustee on several philanthropic and impact-investing foundations. He is an actuary by training, and is passionate about putting his skills to use to improve the quality of maths education in South Africa.
Kristen came to South Africa as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar in 2010 to complete her MSocSci at UCT in international relations with a focus on education and development. She taught at Leap Science and Maths school before joining the Numeric team in 2013. Kristen was instrumental in building Numeric from five partner schools to 45 partner schools, served as CEO from 2018 to 2021, and now serves as a non-executive director on the board.
Riyaadh Najaar is the former Principal of Spine Road High School, a public school in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town, with one of the strongest track records of mathematics of any South African public school. After his retirement, Riyaadh spent several years working for the Western Cape Education Department as a curator principal. He continues to consult and provide input on best practices in running public schools.
Lele is the founder of mPower People Solutions and formerly head of human resources at Allan Gray. She brings a wealth of people development and human resources experience to our board. While Lele is an experienced human resources professional, she did her undergraduate degree in mathematics at Wits. She is thus passionate about empowering South African youth through maths education.
Sam studied Physics at Oxford before joining HSBC in Geneva. He worked for five years at HSBC Private Bank in both Geneva and London, and today continues to work in the asset management industry. With both of his parents having come from South Africa, and having a strong interest in maths growing up, Numeric is a vehicle through which Sam can share that passion with youth in South Africa.