naadiya

I co-founded and run a non-profit that promotes the engineering through advocacy, empowerment and education of rural and urban youth. More importantly, I strive to make a change everyday to better society, even if its positively affecting one person at a time

At the beach. The peacefulness, and the sheer scale of it all. I also connected to Cape Town and Stuttgart, two cities I lived in, but the most magical place in the world is Fontana de Trevi (Trevi Fountain) in Rome. It is absolutely beautiful, and each time I return to it, I see something different. I can sit and stare at it for hours

I would like to see youth more actively engaged in their future. More and more, I find the youth in South Africa are very apathetic, which saddens me, as we have lost the culture for standing up for what you believe in and being the change you wish to see in the world.

Naadiya is a dynamic day-dreamer who works relentlessly in making those dreams a reality. She is a self-confessed shopaholic and a social entrepreneur whose passion lies at motivating young people and promoting education and engineering to the youth of South Africa, specifically from rural and disadvantaged backgrounds. Naadiya completed her BSc civil engineering degree at the University of Cape Town. She continued studying and graduated from her master’s degree in Transport Engineering in June 2009 from UCT. During her 3rd year of studying, she cofounded a now national organisation to advance women in engineering and was heavily involved in various leadership structures. Naadiya was the department representative for Civil Engineering and head of the civil engineering mentorship program during her undergraduate degree. She went on to serve as the UCT Muslim Students Associations Liaison officer. She served on MSA of the Cape as the UCT representative and was one of the organizers of the Reviving the Islamic Spirit conference. Naadiya was also a provincial committee member for the South African Institute of Civil Engineers in the Western Cape. Naadiya was selected to attend the International Youth Leadership conference in Prague in 2006 and was selected as one of the top 100 Brightest Young minds in South Africa in the same year. She was invited to be a presenter at the World Federation of Engineering Organizations’ Women in Engineering Conference in Tunis in 2007. She received a UCT Outstanding Leadership Award in 2008, and spent a semester on International Exchange at the University of Stuttgart, Germany as part of the award. Naadiya was the official South African representative and presenter at the NAM Empowerment of Women through Science and Technology Interventions Workshop in Tehran in 2008, and a presenter at the Women in Engineering Workshop in Bremen, Germany. Naadiya also presented her thesis at the International Symposium on Mobility in Stuttgart, Germany. In 2009, Naadiya was selected by the Mail & Guardian Newspaper as one of the Top 300 young South Africans you have to take to lunch. Naadiya is the 2009 CEO Magazines Most Influential Women of The Year in the Category of Engineering. And has been selected as one of 20 International recipients of a Global Youth Leadership Fellowship and will spend a week in Washington as part of the fellowship. She is also a recipient of a UCT Engineering Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2009, Naadiya was appointed as the LEAD Global Engineering Director for UCT (A USA based NPO running a pilot project at UCT & WITS). She currently works as a transport engineer at a civil engineering company, while holding the position of SAWomEng National Coordinator & Financial Director, and LEAD Engineering Director. She still finds time to give motivational speeches and hosts skill building workshops. Naadiya’s other passions lie in traveling, spending time with her family and friends, shopping, cooking and entertaining guests. She loves learning about other cultures, meeting new people, and is determined to change the world, even if it is just by helping one person at a time.