Since the age of 10, University of Pretoria alumnus Ntando Dube’s academic brilliance has earned her a succession of scholarships. The latest, the KwaZulu-Natal Rhodes Scholarship for 2026, crowns a journey that began in a Pietermaritzburg classroom and continues at Oxford University, where she hopes to bring an African lens to global questions of equity and economics.

For Dube, being selected as the KwaZulu-Natal Rhodes Scholar is deeply personal.

“I grew up in a township, eMbali in Pietermaritzburg, but attended several prestigious schools,” she says. “When you’re there, you’re probably one of the few who know what day-to-day life looks like for the South African that isn’t part of the top 1%.

“For me to be selected is a way to show other kids in my community that where you come from should not be the sole factor that determines where you end up in life. Privilege shouldn’t be the reason that people succeed. It should be hard work and dedication to what you want in life.”

From her early years in primary school to her time as Head Girl at St John’s Diocesan School for Girls and later as a Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Merit Award recipient at the University of Pretoria (UP), Dube’s story has been one of dedication, resilience and possibility. As a child, she excelled across subjects.

“I was one of those kids who was multifaceted in the sense that I did well in everything,” she says. “I did well in subjects that were both humanities and STEM inclined.”

Her academic curiosity made choosing a career path difficult until an unexpected opportunity set her course. Dube’s mother, who works at Standard Bank, entered her into a Liberty programme designed for strong young mathematicians to explore actuarial science.

“My mom told me about it, but I said no because I didn’t want to work in the corporate space,” she says with a laugh. “She sent through all my reports anyway, and I got an email saying I’d been selected. I went to the conference, and they were talking about how there aren’t a lot of black women within the actuarial space. I realised the reason there weren’t as many young black women within the industry wasn’t because they lacked ability, but because they weren’t seeing themselves in those spaces. Representation has a very big impact. That was one of the reasons I wanted to pursue actuarial sciences – to see more representation within the industry.”

While she was there, Dube also remembers young male peers who said they didn’t think women could excel in actuarial sciences.

“They might have said it jokingly, but I took it very personally. I went up to them and said, ‘I’m going to pursue this field. Watch. I’m going to go very far.’”

At UP, Dube obtained a BSc in Actuarial and Financial Mathematics cum laude, followed by an honours degree in Actuarial Science. In addition to receiving the Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Merit Award, she received the Department of Actuarial Sciences’ postgraduate merit award for attaining an average above 80% for her undergraduate studies.  

Between demanding classes, she gained experience through various internships, including at Merrill Lynch South Africa, the South African branch of the Bank of America, as well as the Harvard Business School Africa Research Centre.

“During my time at the Harvard Business School Africa Research Centre, I recognised that as Africans, we often look at Africa as a place of need rather than as a place of great potential,” Dube says. “We did a lot of research around innovative tech in Africa … what various start-ups are doing to solve climate change issues, what the electric vehicle model looks like in South Africa, even the taxi industry and why it’s such an integral part of South African society. The taxi industry is a whole economy that we don’t really speak about or recognise in traditional economics.”

Dube says investigating Africa’s industries and framing them through a lens of empowerment made her realise the continent’s resilience.

“There are certain things our economies have gone through that other economies would experience and completely collapse, yet we’ve gone through them and remain optimistic through it all. That’s when I realised that I’d love to pursue African Studies at Oxford and provide a fresh perspective, one that adds an African lens to the discussion. This continent is indomitable; it’s resilient.”

Now working as an actuarial associate at Ernst & Young, Dube says she finds her professional life energising.

“The one thing I’ve enjoyed most about working within consulting, especially at Ernst & Young, is the deal volume and the exposure we get. I’m 10 months into my job and I’ve seen so much thus far.”

The culture, too, has been affirming.

“My team is very young, which is always refreshing, and the partners are warm and open, which is not something you see at a big firm. They’ve empowered me to ask questions, to grow and have supported me by putting me on engagements that I have an interest in.”