ABOUT
Talisa Jane McMillan is a Development Economics Lecturer at Vega School in Cape Town. Talisa is busy writing her Masters in Economics at The University of Cape Town, her focus areas being Poverty, Education and Enterprise Development. She is also a renewable energy intern at the Department of Economic Development and Tourism for the Western Cape; working for The Green Cape Initiative as a communication officer.
Talisa is originally from Johannesburg and moved to Cape Town in 2006.
This is me in "the dress" at my aunts wedding, I did not wear dresses often. Which is probably why I look so overjoyed. Dresses like this one are now illegal.
Major Achievements and Extracurricular Activities (from then to now)
Along with receiving the King Constantine Medal, Talisa completed her Presidents Gold Award in 2005. Throughout her schooling career, Talisa remained constantly aware of the world around her, which is why she threw her energies into The Oasis Haven for Aids Babies, as well as raised money for various charities while on the Community Outreach Committee. Talisa went on lengthy development projects to Ubombo, Shongwe and Swaziland to build houses, paint orphanages and plant vegetable gardens.
After moving to Cape Town to attend The University of Cape Town in 2006, Talisa began working for a student run non-governmental organisation (NGO) called SHAWCO. Talisa was at SHAWCO for three years and started her career as The Biology Curriculum Co-ordinator. In addition to this, Talisa was the Community Outreach Representative for her residence; Clarinus House in her second year, whilst she simultaneously headed up Educational Projects in Khayelitsha, Mannenberg, Kensington and Nyanga. Talisa’s final year of BCOM (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) was spend mostly at SHAWCO, coordinating Project Logistics while on the Steering Committee. Talisa was able to work closely with Centre Managers in the Townships, where she was able to work at a hands on level with development.
After completing her TEFL in 2008, Talisa traveled to Malawi to work with Sustainable Food Gardens. There she gained experience in community based solutions, Permaculture and rural Africa. She was also able to use her TOEFL qualification at The Cape Town School of English where she ran a program on Business English for refugees. Talisa has more recently taught English in Korea at a six-week Summer English Camp in Pohang Province.
In January 2009, in response to South Africa’s BBBEE legislation, Talisa moved on to her first independent project, an on-line solution to Corporate Social Responsibility. Talisa designed and Sponsored a Project for a team of Information Systems Students at The University of Cape Town. The project aimed to build an online portal that would connect NGO’s and Corporate Companies. The portal is called LinkCSR and was completed in November 2009 but has sadly never gone live due to feasibility and funding constraints.
In November 2009, Talisa completed her Honours in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. For her Thesis Paper, she conducted a Case Study of Silulo Ulutho Technologies, and analysed the factors that influenced the success of this booming SMME in South Africa.
Talisa is now dedicated to learning more about Social Enterprise and making Financial Markets work for the poor. Last year she worked closely with David Erasmus for Cubate South Africa. She is currently trying to slow life down to focus on teaching, renewable energy and her masters.
