Biography
Nozipho Freya Simelane is an Economic Affairs Officer(NEPAD) at the Regional Integration & NEPAD Section of the Regional Integration & Trade Division. Her areas of expertise include regional coordination; regional integration, infrastructure and industrialization; capacity development; Economic Affairs; and telecommunications engineering. Prior to joining ECA, she worked as a Manager of Policy and Planning for the regulatory and policy arm, following a fifteen (15) year career as a Network Development Engineer which saw to the introduction of Internet Services, Data Services, optic fibre as well as the digitalization of the transmission network for the Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC) in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland). She was the first woman to be engaged as an engineer for the Corporation. She was also a part-time lecturer for the University of Eswatini, where she taught telecom systems and optic fibre. Her masters thesis was on the Impact of the Internet on the Value Chain of Telecommunications Operators which discussed the issues around the evolution of value chains to value networks and disintermediation particularly concerning developing countries. Ms. Simelane holds a MSc. in Communication Management (Telecommunications) from the Strathclyde University, Glasgow, United Kingdom. Recent projects include implementation of the ECA Capacity Development Strategy, the ECA Fellowship Framework, the development of the EAC Vision 2050, the SADC E-Strategy, and support to the Regional Coordination Mechanism for Africa and the NEPAD programme.