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02 July 2019
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Story Eloise Calitz
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Photo Keagan Nkwaira
Audience members listening attentively to the presentations at the Entrepreneurship Inter-varsity on the Bloemfontein Campus.
The UFS continuously creates opportunities for students to develop and explore platforms where they can showcase their talents and share their innovative concepts. In the light of this, it is important for the institution to become a preferred academic knowledge partner that can conceptualise, develop, and successfully commercialise research activities, and through this foster an innovative and entrepreneurial culture that aligns to its Integrated Transformation Plan.
This is why opportunities such as the Entrepreneurship Intervarsity Competition are so important, since it encourages students to demonstrate their entrepreneurial talent, and through this connect with investors and industry leaders to start up a business.
The competition
Student entrepreneurs across the 26 public universities in South Africa were invited to submit their innovative ideas as part of a competition supported by Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE), in collaboration with the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation. The opportunities created through this initiative are twofold:
1. For student entrepreneurs to present their innovative ideas and businesses.
2. For universities to demonstrate their entrepreneurial talent and the ways in which they support and grow the next generation of business leaders.
The competition takes place in five stages. The process started with each student submitting their short videos and applications on the official competition site. Each institution also had the opportunity to select student entrepreneurs to take part in the competition. Fifteen students pitched their ideas during internal rounds at the UFS on 30 May 2019. Of these students, four were selected to represent the UFS at the regional rounds of the Entrepreneurship Intervarsity, where the finalists will be chosen.
The students were judged in four categories:
• Category 1: Innovative Ideas
• Category 2: Tech Businesses (existing businesses, formal or informal, undergrad or postgrad)
• Category 3: Social Impact Businesses (existing businesses, formal or informal, undergrad or postgrad)
• Category 4: General (existing businesses, formal or informal, undergrad or postgrad)
The following UFS entrants were selected to take part in the regional finals:
• Christopher Rothman for his liquid yeast culture that can be used in the fermentation of beer.
• Driaan-Lou Kemp for his patented water-saving device.
• Grace Mthembu for her electricity-saving system.
• Martin Clarke for his idea to use drone technology for the mining industry
International delegates attend SACOMM conference at UFS
2016-10-12
From the left: Prof Colin Chasi, Chairperson of the
South African Communications Association,
Dr Dalme Mulder UFS Lecturer; Dr Wilmien Marais,
UFS Lecturer; Prof Johann de Wet, former head of
UFS Department of Communication Science
Prof Tom O’Regan, University of Queensland (Australia)
and Prof Milli Rivera, Head of the UFS Department of
Communication Science during the conference on the
UFS Bloemfontein Campus.
Photo: Rulanzen Martin
Communication from within and below: Social Transformation and Inclusiveness. That was the theme of the 2016 South African Communication Association (SACOMM) conference, hosted at the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS) from 3 to 5 October 2016.
“Through this theme, participants were invited to submit papers that examined the role of communication in today’s tumultuous climate,” said Prof Mili Rivera, Head of the Department of Communication Science at the UFS.
A total of 140 delegates from other South African universities, as well as international delegates from Zimbabwe, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia attended the conference. It was the second time in ten years that the UFS hosted the conference.
Organisation to mentor and support emerging scholars
Various staff members and students from the UFS Department of Communication Science presented papers during the three days.
Annette van Baalen and Dr Dalme Mulder, both lecturers in the department, won the best paper award in the Corporate Communication division. A number of emerging scholars also presented papers. “The organisation is committed to mentoring and supporting emerging scholars in the field of Communication Science,” said Prof Rivera.
Association must be agent of change in curriculum
Delegates discussed the role of the organisation (SACOMM) as an agent of change in terms of decolonising the curriculum. The focus was on training journalists to cover crises in a fair and balanced manner. The book The Art of Persuasive Communication - A Process (4th Edition) by Prof Johann de Wet, former head of the UFS Department of Communication Science, was also launched during the conference.
The next SACOMM conference will take place at Rhodes University in 2017.