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02 July 2019 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo Charl Devenish
Dr Ufok Samson-Akpan
A family built on education and entrepreneurship: From left; Dr Ufok Samson-Akpan, Dr Ekaete Benedict, Aniebo Hagan, and Mmedaara Samson-Akpan.
Graduating from the University of the Free State (UFS) is a family affair for the Samson-Akpans. Over a period of 16 years the family have garnered a total of nine qualifications from the UFS. The mother and her five children have among them an undergraduate degree, two honours degrees, two master’s degrees, and two postgraduate diplomas. During the June graduations, they added another master’s degree and a PhD degree to their haul. 

Dr Ufok Samson-Akpan, a specialist family physician and the coordinator of the Nelson Mandela Fidel Castro Student Training Programme, was the first to register at the UFS. She graduated with an MBA degree in Management and Health Care Management   the same day as her first daughter Ekaete Benedict who graduated with a BCom Hons degree in Business Management in 2003. Sixteen years later, on 28 June 2019, the family celebrated another double graduation. Benedict obtained her PhD in Business Management alongside her sister Aniebo Hagan who graduated with her Master’s in Disaster Management.

Empowerment through education

Benedict is walking in her father’s footsteps as a lecturer at the Department of Business Management. “We hail from an academically inclined family. Our late father was a lecturer in English and Theatre Arts. Our house was always filled with books and we were encouraged to read, to be creative and inquisitive about our surroundings,” Benedict explains.

Her belief in education and women empowerment led her to establish a NPO called Cherished Rubies. “It focuses on projects and activities related to the empowerment, development, training and health of the girl child and women in the province,” she elaborates. 

Merging education and entrepreneurship

Her PhD thesis titled: The Influence of Environmental and Individual Factors on the Growth Intentions of SMMEs in the Free State investigates internal and external forces that could facilitate or hinder entrepreneurs’ intentions to grow their businesses. “The results and recommendations should benefit current entrepreneurs, policymakers, educational institutions and relevant government agencies seeking to decrease the failure rate of Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) in the province,” she said.
 
Benedict is also the CEO and co-founder of Mdy Designs (Pty) Ltd, which she operates with another sister, Mmedaara Samson-Akpan who graduated from the UFS with a B.Sc in Information Technology and Management in 2015. Mdy Designs is an award-winning business in Bloemfontein which focuses on clothing and accessories inspired by indigenous African designs and materials.

Descending from a lineage of women who used education to empower themselves, Benedict is a true inspiration for women in education and entrepreneurship and takes the baton to empower future generations. 

News Archive

Horse-riding therapy improves self-confidence in children
2016-05-10


This group of Honours students in Psychology at the University of the Free State was honoured with the best postgraduate Service Learning award at the prize-giving function of the Faculty of the Humanities. From the left are Adriana de Vries, Hershel Meyerowitz, Simoné le Roux, Wijbren Nell, Melissa Taljaard, and Gerán Lordan. Photo: Marizanne Cloete.

Horse-riding therapy helps to improve self-confidence in children, and changes their perception of themselves. It puts them in a totally new environment where they can be free of any judgement.

According to Wijbren Nell, who achieved his Honours degree in Psychology at the University of the Free State (UFS), this is the ideal therapy when working with children with disabilities. He said it was amazing to see how they developed.

He was part of a group of Honours students in Psychology who received the best postgraduate Service Learning award in the Faculty of the Humanities for their community project. In 2015, this project by Wijbren, Hershel Meyerowitz, Gerán Lordan, Melissa Taljaard, Simoné le Roux, and Adriana de Vries, was part of their module Community and Social Psychology. They were honoured at the Faculty’s prize-giving function on 15 April 2016.

Purpose of project

“Our purpose with the project was to demonstrate to the children that they could still accomplish something, despite their disabilities,” Wijbren said. The students work on a weekly basis with learners from the foundation phase of the Lettie Fouché School in Bloemfontein. Marie Olivier’s Equistria Therapeutic Development Trust serves as the site for the community project. She has a long standing partnership with the UFS.

Horse-riding and therapy

According to Wijbren, the idea was to stimulate the psychomotor functioning of the children, as well as to promote their psychological well-being. He said research has shown that there is incredible therapeutic value in horse-riding. In this specific case, it has improved the children’s self-confidence, as they may have a poor self-image as a result of their disabilities.

“At the beginning of the year, there was a girl who didn’t even want to come close to a horse, let alone getting onto the horse. We kept on trying, and, once she was on the horse, we couldn’t get her down. This was the amazing thing about the project,” said Wijbren.

Award a surprise

Wijbren said the award was a honour and surprise to his group. He was full of praise for Dr Pravani Naidoo, a lecturer in Psychology at the UFS, who coordinates the therapeutic horse riding project. “She has a tremendous passion for this project, and challenged us to think on our feet. She is a real inspiration.”

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