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29 October 2020 | Story Linda Dhladhla
The national Student Entrepreneurship Week is the best empowerment platform for students aspiring to become entrepreneurs. Students enrolled in higher education institutions need to appreciate more than ever before that employment post-graduation is not a given.  COVID-19 dampened South Africa’s growth prospects to worse levels than those predicted in 2019.  Students must therefore strive to equip themselves with the basics of entrepreneurship, so as to identify solutions to society’s most pressing challenges now, by participating in economic activities while studying. 

These are remarks by Dr Norah Clarke, Director of Universities South Africa’s Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) programme.  In the week leading up to the national Student Entrepreneurship Week (#SEW2020) that commences on Monday 2 November, Dr Clarke explained why students must take entrepreneurial initiatives at their universities seriously in general, and in particular, why they must do their utmost to participate in the week-long #SEW2020 event from 2 to 4 November 2020.

For the first time since this event was established in 2017, the EDHE programme will be hosting #SEW2020 as a combined national and multi-institutional event. Twenty-one institutions will be sharing one common programme that runs from Monday, 2 November and wraps up on Thursday, 5 November.  As was done with the EDHE Lekgotla 2020, the #SEW proceedings will be livestreamed on the Whova app.  

According to Dr Clarke, this enables anyone to see what each of the 21 public universities and 3 technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges will be showcasing – in a rare opportunity never seen before in this particular context.  The opening ceremony of the virtual #SEW2020 will be hosted from the University of the Free State (UFS).
In addition to the morning’s welcome addresses, the day is dedicated to showcasing how the UFS Business School collaborates with the local business and banking sector in driving entrepreneurship for the common good.  A speaker from the Central University of Technology will add a research perspective on entrepreneurship.   To further unravel its entrepreneurship strategy and narrate how academics encourage innovation and support student enterprises, the UFS will showcase how academic support got 11 tangible business projects off the ground.  The audience will also hear first-hand from the studentpreneurs behind these projects how the university assisted them in their respective journeys from ideation through commercialisation to the market. 
 
Participate and engage through the Whova app and the 

More information: www.edhe.co.za

News Archive

UFS presents first Beyers Naudé Memorial lecture
2010-09-16

At the Beyers Naudé   Memorial lecture were, from the left: Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS; Rev. Cedric Mayson; and Mr Kgotso Schoeman, Chief Executive Officer of Kagiso Trust.
Photo: Dries Myburg

The seventh Beyers Naudé Memorial lecture was presented for the first time at the University of the Free State (UFS) this week. This lecture that is presented at a different university each year took place on the Main Campus of the UFS in Bloemfontein this year. Rev. Cedrick Mayson presented the lecture with under the theme: Crafting a legacy.

According to Rev. Mayson more deeply rooted forms of suppression came forward after the democratic elections in 1994. Liberation from apartheid was, according to Mason, very superficial. The poor were still severely suppressed at economic, political, cultural, religious and environmental level. “We have to apply Beyers Naudé’s legacy of liberation in these areas,” Rev. Mayson declared.

“The system according to which the rich become wealthier and the poor become poorer must be replaced by a system where everybody can have enough. This is only possible with the insight of the oppressed.

“The government and the opposition are dominated by people who seek advantage for their own gain. Regardless of democratic slogans and some enlightened individuals’ rules against corruption and violence, we lack the political will to engage in the transformation of the whole world for the good of all earthlings,” said Rev. Mayson.

According to him, consumer culture has become a fine-tuned instrument for keeping people incomplete, shallow and dehumanised.

“Religions are self-centred. Leaders from most of the religious groupings criticised apartheid but they never joined the struggle to assist in demolishing apartheid. It appears as if religious institutions are not able to address the causes of poverty because they themselves are too rich and too powerful,” said Rev. Mayson.

He ended with the following words: “What we need is a leap of faith. Beyers knew that. The world is waiting for people to claim their legacy and to accomplish a post-religious secular spirituality of ubuntu.”

Rev. Mayson is a former Head of Religious Affairs of the ANC. He had also been a former staff member of the Christian Institute before it was banned. Furthermore, he was the Editor of Pro Veritate. Before he retired, he had also been involved in the South African Council of Churches and the World Conference for Peace.

The memorial lecture, a collaborative effort of the UFS and Kagiso Trust, endeavours to involve South Africans in dialogue about issues that affect our nation. This year the lecture was presented at the UFS for the first time and it will take place on the Qwaqwa Campus of the UFS next year.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za  
16 September 2010
 

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