“It’s very exciting, and we look forward to the engagement with our Swedish counterpart and furthering the relationship between South Africa and Sweden both academically, professionally and culturally,” says Irshaad Wadvalla.
In 2007, Irshaad Wadvalla came to Uppsala as an exchange student and returned later as a Master’s student in the Sustainable Development Programme. He has since then always stayed in touch with people in Uppsala, above all in alumni contexts.
“I feel very much at home in Uppsala. It has played a big role in my life in various ways and I have been inspired about what I have seen in Uppsala – here I stopped smoking for example, and I have lots of good memories from Sweden.”
As the chairman of the newly established alumni network between South Africa and Sweden, the first step is to build a member database. The number of members is currently 45 – but Ishaad Wadvalla thinks this number will grow as the network becomes known among alumni.
Today he works as a consultant in sustainable development and strategy in South Africa, but also in Sweden, and he is looking forward to creating a lot of collaborations between the two countries.
More of his thoughts about Uppsala, Sweden and the Alumni Network in the video