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BCom Finance student defends UFS Economist of the Year title

06 November 2025 | Story Tshepo Tsotetsi | Photo Stephen Collett

University of the Free State (UFS) BCom Finance student Reatile Seekoei has again claimed the top prize in the UFS’s second annual Economist of the Year competition.

The event, hosted on 31 October 2025 by the Department of Economics and Finance in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS), brought together UFS students, academics, and parents at the Bloemfontein Campus to celebrate emerging talent in the field. The group was joined by sponsors from Sanlam and Santam.

The competition has quickly become a highlight on the academic calendar, offering students an opportunity to bridge classroom theory with real-world practice. It challenges them to apply their understanding of economic trends, policy analysis, and data interpretation to forecast future developments, helping them grow from students into confident, career-ready economists. The event also recognised the top-performing students in the department – from first-year level to master’s – in celebration of academic excellence.

Turning theory into practice

According to Prof Johan Coetzee, Head of the Department of Economics and Finance, the competition aims to give students a platform to apply what they learn in class to real-world scenarios. “The purpose of it is to expose students to macroeconomic indicators and to apply their forecasting skills,” he explained. “It forces students to read up on the news, to know what’s happening in the world around them, and to articulate their understanding clearly. In a world increasingly driven by AI, we need humans – we need economists – to set the narrative. This prepares them for the world of work.”

Prof Coetzee added that the judging focuses on both technical and communication skills, with 40% of the score based on forecasting accuracy and 60% on presentation and articulation. “Economists must not only understand the numbers, but also communicate what those numbers mean,” he said.

From conceptual thinker to confident economist

For Seekoei, winning the competition again was both a challenge and a statement of growth.

“I came into this competition for the second time with one goal: to defend my title,” he said. “To win again is thrilling because I had to deliver more than I did last year. It pushed me to grow from a more conceptualised economist into a mature one who can apply indicators and present economically well.”

His presentation impressed the judges with its structured approach. Seekoei built a framework that combined a baseline analysis of South Africa’s economy with an interpretation of leading indicators, inflation trends and monetary-policy direction. He credited his success to the guidance of his lecturers and his belief in self-discipline. “The key to my success is believing in myself,” he said. “It was me against myself. I had to deliver better than what I did last year, and that confidence made all the difference.”

The competition also saw outstanding performances from other finalists, including BCom student Malek Suhail as the first runner-up and BCom Law student Lunghile Rivombo as the second runner-up, both of whom impressed the judges and their peers with their analytical skill and innovative approach – a testament to the faculty’s interdisciplinary strength.

Prof Coetzee expressed gratitude to Sanlam and Santam for sponsoring the competition and helping to make the initiative possible. Their support, he noted, plays a vital role in nurturing future economists who are both analytically strong and socially aware.

As the department looks ahead to next year’s competition, Seekoei’s back-to-back wins set a new benchmark – one that will no doubt inspire his peers to challenge themselves, think critically, and forecast with both precision and passion.

News Archive

Alexander Ramm Cello Recital with Pieter Jacobs (piano)

2016-04-15

Description: Ramm Tags: Ramm

Alexander Ramm

“Ramm plays with enormous musical authority. Unlike many young instrumentalists, he is not intimidated by the reflective or the elegiac; nor is he nervous about the length of pauses, or the creation of inter-phrase silence. He has a phenomenal technique and he demonstrated it to full effect in this captivating performance.” (Cape Times)

Alexander Ramm belongs to the new generation of cellists recognised for his appealing artistic creativity and unprecedented technical skills. Alexander started his musical education at the age of seven at the Glier music school (Kaliningrad) with Svetlana Ivanova. Her extremely serious attitude to music studies and pedagogical talent revealed the rare musical capabilities of this young cellist.

After moving to Moscow at the age of ten, he was accepted to the class of Maria Zhuravleva at the Chopin Moscow College of Music Performance. From 2007, he continued his professional education at the Moscow Conservatory in the class of the renowned musician and the People’s Artist of the USSR, Natalia Shakhovskaya, an outstanding performer and pedagogue who taught most prominent Russian cellists. Since 2012, he has become a postgraduate student at the Hanns-Eisler Hochschule fur Musik under the guidance of the famous cellist, Frans Helmerson.

From the age of nine, when he made his debut as a soloist with the Kaliningrad Chamber Orchestra, Alexander brilliantly performs with solo programmes and as a soloist with leading orchestras in Russia and worldwide.

He is prizewinner at several international competitions:
1st prize: 4th Moscow Competition for young cellists (2003)
1st prize: 1st Cambridge International Boston Competition (Massachusetts, 2005)
Grand-Prix: Moscow Festival of Romantic Music (Moscow, 2006)
4th prize: 5th UNISA International String Competition (South Africa, 2010)
1st prize: 3rd Beijing International Music Competition (Beijing 2010)
1st prize: 1st All-Russia Music Competition (Russia, 2010)
Prizewinner: Janigro Cello Competition (Croatia, 2012)
Prizewinners: Swedish Duo Competition with duo partner Anna Odintsova (2012)
3rd prize: Paulo Cello Competition (2013) – becoming the first Russian prizewinner in the history of this prestigious contest
2nd prize: XV International Tchaikovsky Competition (2015)

Alexander participated in masterclass festivals at Courchevel Academy and Holland Music Sessions, where he took lessons from the famous musicians such as F. Muller, R. Latzko, M. Kliegel and U. Wiesel. In 2011, he took part in the well-known Verbier festival, where he studied with H. Hoffmann, F. Helmerson, M. Suzuki, L. Power and F. Radosh. At the end of the festival, he was awarded the Neva Foundation top-level prize for gifted students.

Alexander cooperates with such outstanding conductors as V. Gergiev, V. Spivakov, A. Levin, K. Orbelyan, V. Polyansky, S. Kochanovsky, M. Fedotov, A. Slutsky, A. Sladkovsky.

He will be accompanied by Pieter Jacobs, a graduate of the University of Pretoria, who then furthered his studies at Yale in the United States, where he pursued his performing career with considerable success as a soloist and chamber musician in Boston, Cambridge and New Haven before returning to South Africa to perform and teach at the University of Pretoria. Pieter is regarded as one of SA’s foremost pianists and chamber musicians.

Programme:
Grieg: Cello Sonata, Op. 36 in A minor (1883)
Barber: Cello Sonata, Op. 6 in C minor (1932)
Prokofiev: Cello Sonata, Op. 119 (1949)
Piazzolla: Le Grand Tango for cello and piano

Date: 22 April 2016
Time: 19:30
Venue: Odeion
Costs: R130 (adults), R90 (pensioners), R70 (UFS staff members), R50 (students and learners), R50 (group booking of 10+). Tickets available at Computicket.

More information: Ninette Pretorius +27(0)51 401 2504.

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