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25 April 2019 | Story Igno van Niekerk | Photo Igno van Niekerk
Allon Raiz
Entrepreneurship is the future: Allon Raiz provides tools for tomorrow at recent UFS Business School guest lecture.

Allon Raiz treated staff and students to an entertaining, insightful and thought-provoking session on Lose the business plan: what they don’t teach you about being an entrepreneur on Thursday 10 April 2019 at the Bloemfontein Campus. The University of the Free State (UFS) Business School hosted Raiz for a guest lecture on going beyond the business plan.

Raiz, the founder and CEO of Raizcorp is the host of The Big Small Business Show on Business Day TV. He is also the author of two best-selling entrepreneurial books, and he literally gets down to earth about talking business issues when he takes off his shoes as he takes the stage to deliver a talk.

What they don’t teach you

Raiz started the session by sharing the fact that 96% of small businesses fail within 10 years. From his research and experience, he shared the three main attributes always found when studying successful entrepreneurs: “They see opportunities, take risks and add value.”

He was however clear on the fact that there is no such thing as a typical entrepreneur. “It is not about a set of characteristics, it is about a set of probabilities.”

Effective entrepreneurship education

After sharing his personal journey to entrepreneurial success, Raiz explained that entrepreneurs had different expectations in terms of how much they wanted to earn, and how big they wanted to grow their businesses. Although entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes, there are some generic tools which all entrepreneurs can use. These include finding role models, being resilient, and having an internal locus of control. 

The essence of Raiz’s message was that no matter what you want to do, don’t wait and make plans – take action. In short, lose the business plan – start working on the business.

News Archive

The practice of mourning loss
2014-06-11



Prof Kenneth Gergen, Dr Jennifer Githaiga and Prof Mary Gergen
Photo: Supplied
Among international delegates from over 60 nations and more than 1 300 participants, Dr Jennifer Githaiga presented her paper on the practice of mourning – the African way.

Her paper questioned the language used in psychology to ‘pathologise’ African people’s mourning practices. Drawing from her doctoral research, she explained the role of maintaining close bonds with family members after they pass away. Rather than severing these bonds, Dr Githaiga argued that continued attachment beyond death plays a significant role in healing the trauma of loss.

Dr Githaiga’s entitled her paper ‘The “pathology” of post-bereavement bonds: cultural positioning in qualitative inquiry.’ She presented this at the Tenth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (ICQI). A conference that has become one of the most important events on the calendar of qualitative researchers across the globe. The event was hosted at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign from 21 - 24 May 2014. The theme of the conference this year was ‘Qualitative Inquiry and the Politics of Research’.

Dr Githaiga is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Trauma, Forgiveness and Reconciliation Studies at the UFS. During the congress, she also found herself in the role as ambassador to Kovsies. Not only did she rub shoulders with highly-regarded Profs Kenneth and Mary Gergen, but also spoke with leading scholars in the field of qualitative research interested in our university.

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