Mr. Yunus Doba

Yunus Doba was appointed as the Retail Chair in September 2019, his experience includes a mix of education, retail industry experience and skills development in the corporate sector. In the corporate sector he was instrumental in policy development and strategic planning at a national retail supermarket chain. His areas of interest include skills development, talent management and succession planning as a strategic pipeline in business. This gave impetus to research projects undertaken focused on fit for purpose skills in evolving retail sector.

As the Retail Chair is he served as a conduit for networking with industry partners and the academic research which focused on skills for the future, ecommerce, supply chain and technologies and access to the employment market. Research projects also included reconceptualizing work integrated learning, SME’s and partnership with chain stores in township and rural economies via the Nabantu Research project.

The Retail Chair was a catalyst for industry and institution of higher learning to engage in dynamic conversation in curricular alignment in the face of disruptive technologies and the emerging markets. Sound partnerships were forged with national retailers which include Mr Price, Boxer, Retailability, Woolworths, Tradeport, FG Knights, and the Hypercheck Group. These companies participated in focus groups and added value to research and curriculum conversations. Mr. Doba also made presentations at the Fuel Retailer Conference exploring disruption in the fuel industry with regard to internal combustion engines and electric vehicles and the Skills Summit on skills for the future.

He has travelled internationally assessing work integrated models and the possibility of partnering with the sector – to establish a retail institute that could benefit the South African retail sector

Recent collaborative research published includes:

  • Higher Education and Its Contribution to Economies of African Countries: Move towards Competence-Based and Skills Demand-Driven Standards in Collaboration with Industry
  • Enhancing Entrepreneurship in Rural Marginalized Areas: A Case of Hypercheck Nabantu Initiative
  • E-retailing as innovative entrepreneurship and enhancing employment creation: A case study of PLANET54. COM
  • Micro textile entrepreneurship: An evolution from B2C to B2B

CONFERENCE OBJECTIVES

What We Aim to Achieve

The conference is designed to:

  • Promote Research and Evidence-Based Planning: Strengthen the role of research in informing skills planning, policy development, and programme implementation across the sector.
  • Drive Sector Innovation: Explore innovative approaches that improve competitiveness, productivity, entrepreneurship, and sustainability.
  • Strengthen Skills Development Systems: Align education and training with current and future labour market needs within the wholesale and retail sector.
  • Encourage Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration: Create opportunities for engagement between government, industry, labour, academia, research institutions, and development partners.
  • Shape the Future of Work: Generate practical insights on digital transformation, automation, data-driven retail, and evolving workforce demands.

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