Miriam Altman

Miriam Altman is a South African economist, business person, social activist, and strategist. Altman studied economics at McGill University where she got a Bachelor's degree in 1984. Afterward, she further her study to earn a M.Phil in economics from Cambridge and a Ph.D. in economics from Manchester University in 1989 and 1996 respectively.

Quotes

• Was a teacher in a NYC high school and noticed absenteeism was a huge problem from the first day I stood in front of my students. I realized that parents, an essential partner to help get kids to class, were often uninformed, parents play major role in education besides we teachers.
  • [1] Mariam on role parent play in education.

• When a lot of other kids during breaks from school were playing or doing other fun activities, I was going to work with my dad, which maybe didn’t seem that fun at the time but I actually thought it was a pretty cool experience. Early entrepreneurship shapens mind
  • [2]Mariam interview on acquiring skills at a early age.

• The last three years at Telkom have been intense, challenging, rewarding - overall an incredible and life-changing experience.
  • [3] Miriam Altman quits Telkom as Head of Strategy. 2016

• It's true that past efforts have failed. There's been a lot of energy and a lot of great ideas, but it's been inconsistent.
• I've learned over the years that leadership is everything.
  • [4] In an interview with ITWeb's Brainstorm magazine on her plans to transform Telkom. 2016

• I'm a very driven personality, there's no doubt about that. For success in bringing about this kind of change, you have to be pretty ruthlessly focused. I deal with intense stuff at Telkom and it's an enormous challenge and there's pain and pleasure. It's very exciting, but what if you fail? You can't fail.
  • [5] In an interview with ITWeb's Brainstorm magazine on her approach to challenges at Telkom. 2016

• China has moved beyond the stage of imitation and has a growing community of designers and innovators.
• A visit to Shanghai begs an exploration of art, fashion, design, and technology.
• Chinese urban planning is legendary, and great thought has been devoted to public spaces.
• Learning some Mandarin can really change the overall experience.
• when they do understand, I’ve experienced more random acts of kindness in China than anywhere else.
  • [6] Miriam Altman’s travel diary of the cosmopolitan city, Shanghai The strategist and recovering economist takes us around the most populous city on Earth. 2018

• Leadership instability is the top challenge faced by many SOEs, and this was certainly the case at Telkom.
• Staff were quite probably going to say one thing, do another, and wait for Maseko to pass through.
• Eskom could not build up sufficient reserves to cover the costs of maintenance, replacement or new capacity.
• Eskom will have to convince creditors that there is commitment to good governance and a pathway to sustainability. Eskom’s new board is the most important first milestone. Next steps will be to urgently appoint a permanent CEO and round out the Exco in a way that demonstrates a new beginning. Eskom’s communication needs to be open, humble and give stakeholders a true reflection of the state of affairs whether good or bad.
  • [7] Excerpt from 'If Telkom could ring the changes, Eskom can emerge from the darkness'. 2018

• Stuck in a ditch on that lonely Lesotho mountain road, one can try to drive out of it, wait, or walk to the next village for help. One thing is certain. If the truck does not lift out of the ditch, it is going to be a long time before one is back on course to deliver services.
  • [8] How to climb out of a ditch. 2019

• Performance of tertiary education institutions will specifically need to be targeted. One option is to tie some part of the government’s institution grant to achieving improved governance, capacity, quality and labour market alignment.
  • [9] Very little beats tertiary education as a poverty-reducing investment, but it needs to be done right. 2019

• The fastest route back to economic activity, charted in a way that enables physical distancing, will always be the best one. It is always better to generate revenue, in companies and through tax, than it is to save companies or borrow for the shortfall.
  • [10] Excerpt from 'How South Africa can best balance control of COVID-19 and avoid economic disaster'. 2020

• Young people should leave school with a recognised certificate, be channelled into post-school education and training, and then enabled to access to earning opportunities.
  • [11] Excerpt from 'Five Priorities to Activate Youth Employment'. 2021

• The absolutely most important thing for us is that we should be investing in human capability. It is, I think, the most important ingredient to success in any high-growth developing country, and it’s something that we underplay so significantly in South Africa. I think it’s the reason we don’t make progress.
• One of the most important ways of growing, expanding and developing is to have easy movement of people between countries.
• You could see that one of the problems in the company, even though it wasn’t in a competitive market, was that people still had this idea like they were in a monopoly.
• Communications is everything for people. It’s the most fundamental thing. And people are getting cut out of communication if they’re not online. It is an incredible enabler, especially when you have an urban configuration like we do, or spatial configuration, where people are very far from opportunity. So it could be a game changer.
  • [12] In an interview with FixSA on Moneyweb. 2024

• I think that the key problem we face is unproductive ways of doing things. I don't think it’s the technical problem.
• If you walk away when things aren't going well, I can guarantee you it's a recipe for failure. Participation doesn't guarantee success, but that grip, commitment, and continuation step by step is what's going to make us win.
• People ask about growth. The only way to have sustained growth is actually to have inclusion. It is physically whatever anybody thinks.
• The only way to have sustained growth is by building human capability, and the reality is the economy. You know, economists, I guess, confuse people, and we're all trained to think about business, but it's not actually a bunch of businesses; it's actually a bunch of people doing a whole lot of things. It’s actually a human system, and that's how we need to treat it to move on.
  • [13] Building a bridge to shared prosperity | Miriam Altman | TEDxJohannesburgSalon. 2024