Dr. Musawenkosi Donia Saurombe is an early career academic making waves in the academic sphere. The exuberant native of Zimbabwe who grew up in Botswana, was home-schooled by her mother from the age of 2 and began her preparatory class “standard zero” at the age of 4, in 1998 at Phakalane English Medium Primary School, where she completed her standard 2 in 2000. Dr. Saurombe proceeded to South Africa where she began her tertiary studies at the North West University, Mafikeng Campus in 2010, at 16.
The young lady exhibited a ravenous passion for learning as she acquired her bachelor’s degree in human resource management at 19, her honours degree at 20, her master’s degree at 21 (cum laude).She was the top student in her entire faculty and all in record time. She wasted no time and delved right into her Ph.D. studies in 2015, completing this qualification also, at the aforementioned institution of higher learning, in record time of 2 years and with no amendments required to her thesis.
The young marvel became a Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial Psychology on the 25th April 2017, breaking an astounding academic record by becoming the youngest female Ph.D. graduate in Africa, at 23.
Dr. Saurombe is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow since 2017 and also lectures 1st and 3rd year undergraduate courses in Human Resource Management and Industrial Psychology. She also co-supervises postgraduate research.
Outside of her academic escapades, Dr. Musa has also portrayed great leadership skills and acumens and has been incumbent in leadership roles such as Service Director of the Golden Key International Honour Society (2015/2016), Vice-President of the Golden Key International Honour Society (2016/2017), Track Chair at the Academy of World Business and Marketing Management 2018 Research Conference in Athens, Greece and Ambassador of the Charlotte Mannya-Maxeke Institute (an Institute focused on girl and young women empowerment through various initiatives) as of October 2017 till present, among many other professional and community leadership roles.
Musa had the honour of being invited to the BRICS Youth Summit in New Delhi India in March 2018 as well as Moscow, Russia in December 2018 and participates as one of the BRICS Youth Parliamentarians under the South African delegation. In December 2016, Dr. Musa received a prestigious award at the annual Zimbabwe Achievers Awards, South African Edition, for being the young achiever of the year. In April 2017, Dr. Musa was honoured by the South African Board for People Practices (SABPP) as the Best HR & Industrial Psychology Doctoral Student in South Africa and was recognised by the North-West University as the Overall Top Performer for the year 2016, also with a prestigious award from the Faculty Dean. In July 2017 Dr. Musa was awarded the Emerging Psychologist award by the Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology of South Africa (SIOPSA). In September 2018, Dr. Musa was featured in the List of Top 100 Most Influential Young Africans by the Africa Youth Awards. In October 2018, Dr. Musa was endowed by the Institute of People Management (IPM) with the CEO’s Special Award for being the 2018 Young Leader of the Year through her various distinguishable contributions in her respective field.
Although Musa is still at the beginning of her academic career, she has already shown great promise to be a researcher and academic of note in times proceeding, with 9 journal research article publications and 3 international conference proceedings already under her belt. To say the least, the future looks luminous for the young rising powerhouse