Beth Vale

Dr Beth Vale is an applied anthropologist, public health specialist, and social development consultant – who believes that for any public policy to succeed, it must land, and live, in complex socio-political worlds, among ordinary people whose voices are rarely heard in policymaking. Her expertise span HIV/AIDS, chronic illness, the dual burden of communicable and non-communicable epidemics, as well as gender and the care economy.

Over the years, Dr Vale’s work has also expanded beyond public health, exploring social protection, early childhood development, education and youth employment. Through her consulting practice, she conducts and translates research for a range of development NPOs, driving evidence-based advocacy, policy and programming that is attuned to social and political complexities, and oriented to social justice.

We say:

“Beth is a warm and caring individual who cares strongly about people and does everything full-heartedly. She is a storyteller extraordinaire with her deep intuition for the human experience, her live-wire brain and a beautiful way with words. She is able to craft the most evocative and insightful narratives from her interviews with people. She brings out the humanity in otherwise detached contexts, and her high level of skill brings new depths to the work that Percept does. Beth makes you feel like anything is possible and continuously pushes those around her to be more mindful, joyful and curious. We sometimes think about the work that Beth has done in her short time on earth and it blows our mind. She is a true force to be reckoned with.”

Beth is reading:

Travelling with Sugar by Amy Moran-Thomas
Sweet Medicine by Panashe Chigumadzi
The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison
Feral Atlas by Anna Tsing and colleagues
The Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Three Letter Plague by Jonny Steinberg
Ways of Dying by Zakes Mda
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
First, We Make the Beast Beautiful by Sarah Wilson
The poetry of Warsan Shire, Pádraig Ó Tuama, David Whyte, Megan Ross, Toni Stuart

Beth is listening to:

Music:
Sam Cooke
Nina Simone
Leon Bridges
Joan Armatrading
Vusi Mahlasela
Bongeziwe Mabandla

Podcasts:
Heavyweight, Jonathan Goldstein
Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam
On Being with Krista Tippett
The Shadows, Kaitlin Prest
Appearances, Melanie Barzadeh

Dave Strugnell

Dave Strugnell has a working and academic background that draws from a variety of sources – actuarial science, data science, philosophy, economics, finance and behavioural science – so it’s no surprise that he finds deep resonance in Percept’s mission of transdisciplinary, collaborative work on solutions to meaningful problems. He has a long involvement with education and an enthusiasm for lifelong learning, and has a position as an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Actuarial Science at the University of Cape Town, where he previously headed up the Actuarial Science department. He was also the co-founder of the Explore Data Science Academy, which has created learning opportunities for thousands of young data scientists and a pipeline of well-trained talent for employers.

When not directly occupied with Percept’s amazing clients, figuring out how to make healthcare, financial services, early childhood development and the economy in general work better for all of society, you’ll find him engrossed in good fiction, good food or pondering how humanity best navigates the variety of existential threats that it continues to create for itself (climate catastrophe, nuclear holocaust and uncontrolled AGI being just three of the ways we could wipe ourselves out before Easter if we’re not careful).

We say:

“Dave has a breadth of experience as the previous Head of Actuarial Science at UCT, Head of Research in a large South African financial services company, positions on various boards and, most recently, as a co-founder of both Percept and the Explore Data Science Academy. He believes that the world could become a better place if evidence was readily available for decision making. He is the deeply-grounded and endlessly wise guardian angel of Percept. He manages to simultaneously act as an ethical compass and remind us to not take ourselves too seriously.”

Dave is reading:

What We Owe the Future by William MacAskill
Recollections of My Non-Existence by Rebecca Solnit
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate by Naomi Klein
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti
Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh
Our Final Warning: Six Degrees of Climate Emergency by Mark Lynas
The Outside Boy by Jeanine Cummins
Green Energy: How to Build a Sustainable Future by Nicole Kobie

Waiting patiently in the wings are Bill Gates’ How to Avoid a Climate Disaster and Thomas Piketty’s A Brief History of Equality

Dave is listening to:

Having more or less given up the daily commute thanks to the pandemic, Dave is no longer a reliable guide to podcasts and his recommendations should not be trusted

Ndileka Mbete

Ndileka Mbete is a curious life-long learner, lover of humans, collaborator, traveller, and avid marathon runner.

She is an experienced healthcare professional who seeks opportunities to create systemic change in how consumers access quality and affordable healthcare. She has considerable experience in designing and implementing value-based care delivery and funding models which promote improved outcomes and enhance patient and provider experience.

We say:

“Ndileka has extraordinary professional credentials as a medical doctor and value-based care practitioner. But her depth of knowledge and experience is also deeply embodied in how she relates: she is a thoughtful listener and an astute observer – poised with incisive questions to move us from a place of stuckness to a place of creativity and momentum. She is the asker of tricky questions, taking us willingly to places of necessary discomfort. Her rare combination of gravitas and gentleness, and presence and humility, makes her a model of Percept leadership. She is deeply wise, full of compassionate wisdom, and brings the divine feminine to her work. Ndileka is the epitome of grace and heart-led boldness. She is a builder of bridges and a natural translator – able to traverse seeming dichotomies with openness and kindness. She is the eye of the storm, the embodiment of serene wisdom. Her presence is one of soft strength, a balance of heavy expertise and being bravely human. She is the person you want alongside you when things are getting frantic and calm heads are hard to find. Her knowledge and honour precede her, and her sense of justice and integrity shines through and impacts those around her. While they say dynamite comes in small packages, no one told you dynamite is soft, carefully considered and impeccably put together. But you have to meet Ndileka in person to know power like that. Her very presence is explosive! Not in a destructive way but in a way that makes you see things for the first time that were staring you in the face, that unsettles you in ways that show just how well adapted you’d become to the status quo. It is a power that beacons you closer. She is a gift to our collective.”

Ndileka is reading:

Anything by Brené Brown
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Untamed by Glennon Doyle
Start with Why by Simon Sinek

Ndileka is listening to:

Anything and everything by Gregory Porter
Sade
90s R&B
Kwaito when running

Suhavna Khalawan

Suhavna Khalawan is a consulting actuary and a passionate problem solver. She has over a decade worth of actuarial experience across the health and life insurance sectors working in markets spanning South Africa, the African continent and Australia. Prior to Percept, she held various positions at MMI, Liberty Health and Old Mutual as an independent consultant. She specialised in product design, management and pricing of insurance products. She has also done some work as an actuarial expert providing calculations and reports needed for legal proceedings. At Percept, she has worked on a multitude of meaningful problems, including leading various Human Resources for Health projects in South Africa and in South East Asia. She has also led hospital analytics projects as well as research in the South African medico-legal space.

We say:

“Suhavna is a caring, warm-hearted person whose expertise shines through in everything that she does. She is quietly impressive and works carefully with a humility that belies her extensive knowledge and capability. She has the signature Percept curiosity and an incredible adaptability. As you work with her, you get a sense of the depth of desire to learn, the impeccable way she works and the soul she brings to everything she does. Suhavna is a generous person who always makes time to help anyone in the team who needs it, and she is always keen to step out of her comfort zone to learn something new. She is a natural team leader. While Su has a general inclination to get things done, she is in tune with herself and the people around her. She balances the excellent delivery of results with empathy and care in an effortless way. Kind and fierce co-exist perfectly within her.”

Suhavna is reading:

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (And Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did) by Philippa Perry
What Mummy Makes by Rebecca Wilson
Weaning Sense by Meg Faure and Kath Megaw

Suhavna is listening to:

Any music for meditation, e.g. Craig Pruess and Ananda
Acoustic covers
Pop or pop rock
Audible (The 5 Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell)