Dr Tarisai Fritz Rukuni holds a PhD in marketing, a Master of Business Administration (MBA), a Bachelor of Commerce in marketing and economics, a postgraduate diploma in higher education, and a certificate in doctoral supervision. He is a senior lecturer at the University of the Free State, teaching strategic marketing and services marketing. Dr Rukuni is also a visiting professor at New York University (USA), Fulda University of Applied Sciences (Germany), and The Hague University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands). He has published in journals such as Young Consumers, Computers in Human Behaviour Reports, and Data in Brief.

Prof Jacques Nel is an NRF C2-rated researcher and associate professor in the Department of Business Management at the University of the Free State. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Southern African Institute for Management Scientists (SAIMS) and is actively involved in advancing management scholarship in Southern Africa. His research focuses on digital marketing, omnichannel commerce, consumer resistance to digital services, mobile-service adoption, online consumer behaviour, and social media marketing. He has published extensively in leading international and national journals, including the European Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, the International Journal of Bank Marketing, Behaviour & Information Technology, the Journal of Product and Brand Management, and the South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences. Prof Nel is committed to innovative teaching, postgraduate supervision, curriculum development, and the integration of emerging technologies into higher education and business practice.

Naquita Fernandes is a marketing academic whose research focuses on the practical realities of marketing in local contexts. Her work examines how everyday offline consumer interactions translate into digital engagement, with a strong emphasis on relationship marketing and omni-channel consumer behaviour.

Her teaching philosophy is grounded in applied, experiential learning. She works closely with local businesses operating under real-world constraints of time and resources, designing student projects that apply theory to solve authentic marketing challenges. This approach bridges academic knowledge and practice, equipping students with the ability to address contemporary marketing problems in real business environments.

Dr Hilary Bama is a senior lecturer and scholar in the Department of Business Management at the University of the Free State. His scholarship focuses on SDG issues in tourism, particularly around protected areas, heritage interpretation, sport and event tourism, mega-event legacies, and tourism governance in the Global South, with a strong focus on sub-Saharan Africa. His research also explores related areas within the tourism nexus, such as crisis management, tourism entrepreneurship, and edutourism. His academic work reflects a commitment to producing context-sensitive scholarship that informs policy, practice, and sustainable development within African tourism and higher education contexts. Dr Bama is responsible for teaching Strategic Management (third-year) and Consumer Behaviour (honours) modules. He also supervises postgraduate students at honours, MBA, MCom, and PhD levels. 

Dr Bama is an accredited facilitator (Cert No: ATE74/2022) and holds a PhD in tourism management from the University of Johannesburg, and a postgraduate diploma in higher education studies (PGDip-HES) from the University of the Free State.

Dr Takesure Zhowa holds a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) from the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) and is a full-time academic and researcher in the Department of Business Management at the University of the Free State. He has lectured up to MBA level at TUT, IIE MSA, the University of Johannesburg, and the DaVinci Institute. In 2024, he was awarded the Platinum Professional Associate designation by the Institute of Marketing Management (IMM), and in 2022, he received the Outstanding Lecturer Award from IIE MSA. He previously served as an NRF-funded Postdoctoral Research Fellow under the SARChI Chair in Innovation Studies at TUT. His research interests include business management, marketing, entrepreneurship, and supply chain management. He has published in accredited journals and is proficient in SPSS and Atlas.ti. He is also a certified assessor and has delivered training for organisations including the Ford Motor Company, Robert Bosch, CBI-electric, BEKA Schréder, ALPLA, and Nissan UD Trucks.

Dr Emile Saker Nkwei holds a PhD in marketing management and has more than 15 years of experience in the market research industry, data analysis, consulting, and postgraduate research support. He is highly skilled in quantitative research methods, SPSS, structural equation modelling, mediation and moderation analysis, experimental design, and predictive analytics. Dr Nkwei has supervised and supported numerous honours, master’s, and doctoral students. He is passionate about helping students and academics build a strong foundation in statistics by demystifying and clearly presenting complex statistical concepts. His research publications focus mainly on social marketing applied to health and religion, as well as consumer behaviour, particularly technology adoption and usage.

Mathapelo Mafojane is a lecturer in the Department of Business Management at the University of the Free State (UFS). She holds a Master of Business Management with specialisation in marketing and is currently pursuing a PhD in marketing. She teaches undergraduate modules in the Department of Business Management. Her research interests include consumer behaviour and social marketing. Her published work appears in the Journal of Contemporary Management.