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28 June 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa
UFS Thought Leader series
The 2019 UFS Thought-Leader Series explores techniques of renewal and solutions for economic growth and entrepreneurship as an instrument of development for South Africa.

The University of the Free State (UFS), in cooperation with Vrye Weekblad, will present the second consecutive Thought-Leader Series as part of the Vrystaat Arts Festival on Thursday 4 July in the Economic and Management Science Auditorium (EBW Auditorium) on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus.

As a higher-education institution, the UFS deems itself responsible for contributing to local and national public discourses by assembling industry experts to deliberate on imperative topics that affect students, the broader community, and the country in one way or another. 

Topic of discussion for 2019 Thought-leader series 

In 2019, the UFS Thought-Leader series unpacks Economic Growth and Entrepreneurship for a Growing South Africa in the form of two concentrated panel discussions which will address the questions, ‘How can we fix the South African economy and create jobs?’ and ‘How can we establish a pro-youth entrepreneurship strategy for South Africa?’ respectively.

Expert panellists to discuss economic growth and entrepreneurship

Editor of the Vrye Weekblad, Max du Preez, will be facilitating discussions between panellists. The following panellists will participate in the first panel: Executive Director at the Centre for Politics and Research and political commentator, Prince Mashele; Vice-Dean (Strategic Projects) of the UFS Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, Prof Philippe Burger; Director and Chief Economist at the Efficient Group, Dawie Roodt; and Chief Economist at Investec, Annabel Bishop.  

Chief Executive Officer at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, Maryana Iskander; Senior Banker at the Rand Merchant Bank, David Abbey; and Head of the UFS Department of Business Management, Prof Brownhilder Neneh, will form part of the second panel. 

Details about the event:

Date: 4 July 2019

Time: 10:00
Panel 1: How can we fix the South African economy and create jobs?’ 

Time: 12:00
How can we establish a pro-youth entrepreneurship strategy for South Africa?’ 

Venue: Economic and Management Sciences Auditorium (EMS Auditorium), UFS Bloemfontein Campus

More information: +27 51 401 3422 or news@ufs.ac.za
 

News Archive

Islam. Boko Haram. Terrorism. Prof Hussein Solomon offers insight.
2014-09-04

 

 Photo: en.wikipedia.org

Prof Hussein Solomon introduction: video

When it comes to politics, there are lots of negative talk, but without any action or solutions.

However, with Prof Hussein Solomon, Senior Professor at the UFS’s Department of Political Science, there is not a lot of talk without solutions, but great activity regarding research work published on Islam, the Middle East, Boko Haram and environmental issues in Africa.

Prof Solomon’s most recently published article, Five Lessons Learned from Ejecting Islamists in Mali, was published in the Research on Islam and Muslims in Africa (RIMA) Policy Papers on 1 September 2014.
(https://muslimsinafrica.wordpress.com/2014/09/01/five-lessons-learned-from-ejecting-islamists-in-mali-professor-hussein-solomon/ ).

“The terrorist threat is mounting with each passing day in Africa with Islamist terror groups exploiting the ungoverned spaces, the availability of weapons, porous borders, an incompetent security apparatus and corruption in the political establishment,” Prof Solomon writes in this paper.

“It is therefore important, to explore cases where attempts have been made to dislodge the Islamists with a view to learn lessons so that future interventions do not repeat the failures of the past. This paper explores the intervention and lessons which could be learned from French and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) attempts to oust Islamists in northern Mali in 2013.”

Prof Solomon holds a DLitt et Phil (Political Science) from the University of South Africa (UNISA). In 2011, he was Visiting Professor at the Osaka School for International Public Policy (OSIPP). In 2007 and 2010 he was Visiting Professor at the Global Collaboration Centre at Osaka University in Japan and in 2008 he was Nelson Mandela Chair of African Studies at Jawahrlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India. In 1994, he was Senior Visiting Fellow at the Department of War Studies, King’s College at the University of London. He is currently a Visiting Fellow at the MacKinder Programme for the Study of Long-Wave Events at the London School of Economics and Political Science in the United Kingdom.

He is also a Senior Associate for the Israeli-based think tank Research on Islam and Muslim in Africa and a Senior Analyst for WikiStrat.

More articles by Prof Solomon:

Boko Haram and the case of the abducted school girls
http://muslimsinafrica.wordpress.com/2014/05/14/reinvigorating-the-fight-against-boko-haram-professor-hussein-solomon/

Australian Broadcasting Corporation interview on Boko Haram
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/counterpoint/boko-haram/5657882  

Reflections on Inga 3 and Beyond
www.saccps.blogspot.com  

Nile and Okavanga River Basins (pdf)
 
Nigeria’s Boko Haram: Beyond the rhetoric (pdf)

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