DR JACOBS HAS THE RIGHT FORMULA FOR SUCCESS
GROWING up in Heideveld on the Cape Flats, Dr Rechelle Jacobs explained that young women were often mistreated and grew up living in fear.
But she said it was the “young, marginalised girls of the Cape Flats” who motivated her to start her part-time PhD journey in mathematical statistics in 2017, at 41 years old.
“God used my UWC (University of the Western Cape) education to set me free from poverty.
“By God’s grace, I wanted to be a success story so that I could reach the youth and show them that it is possible to follow your dreams and change your circumstances.
“This journey forced me to face my biggest intellectual challenge. I had no choice but to work with my low confidence, press through exhaustion, silence the anxiety, and fight through sickness,” she said.
Jacobs had spent 15 years in the financial services sector as a business manager and quantitative analyst for three big banks in South Africa. Then she discovered teaching as her true passion and made a drastic career change.
Today, 10 years on, she is a lecturer at UWC in the Department of Statistics and Population Studies. Jacobs teaches distribution theory to undergraduate students and supervises postgraduate research projects.
She said her career shift also came about because she wanted to spend more time with her children and support her husband’s calling for the ministry.
“I wanted to be the best mom and wife I could be. It was what drove me to become a university lecturer in 2014, even though I had to sacrifice a third of my salary. I have this drive to make a difference because I come from a difficult background myself.”
UWC said that Jacobs is a valuable asset to both students and researchers at the university.
Her research interests lie at the intersection of statistics, education and finance.
As a member of the department’s data science team, the pastor’s wife has a heart for community upliftment. Grateful for being supported on her journey to becoming an academic, she wants to pay it forward by teaching and exposing high school learners and unemployed youth to science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) subjects.
Jacobs teaches data analytics skills and formalised her new non-profit organisation in 2022. The Mastermind Foundation launched its first STEM project in February of this year. It is a collaboration with UWC’s Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI) and the Douglas George Murray Trust (DGMT).
“With the STEM training programme, we want to offer an opportunity to empower 30 unemployed youth this year, equipping participants with essential skills and problem-solving abilities in preparation for potential careers in data analytics,” Jacobs said.
The programme offers computer literacy training to establish a solid foundation in fundamental computer skills, and customised data analytics training to acquire in-demand expertise in the field.
“It is project-based learning to solve real small business challenges. There is a great need out there, especially in marginalised communities. I want this to be my contribution to paving the way for learners who never knew they would be interested in data analytics as a potential career opportunity,” Jacobs explained.
“The idea is to empower them through analytics using computer literacy and data analytics, which form baseline knowledge for anyone seeking employment.
“You have to have some digital citizenship as someone living in an era where virtual reality also exists. Data literacy is a 21st century life skill you must have, just like debt literacy. The analytics I’m teaching them is from a theoretical point of view and will be based on a small business owner. The learner must decide what type of data they would need to prepare and analyse to run their own or someone else’s small business efficiently.”
Jacobs’ students say that she brings a wealth of practical experience from the financial sector to her academic role.
“It is still a hectic challenge trying to balance being a mother of two preteens, a pastor’s wife caring for our congregation, running the Mastermind Foundation and being an academic, but I find it most rewarding to know that my small contribution has the potential to create brighter futures for our youth by teaching a skill that could secure job opportunities for them in the near future.”