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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

South Africans can be first movers
2014-04-29

 
Dr Liz Lange, Prof Hussein Solomon, Minister Naledi Pandor and Prof Nicky Morgan
Photo: Johan Roux
Minister of Home Affairs, Naledi Pandor, recently addressed staff, students and members of the community at the CR Swart Auditorium, UFS.

During a public lecture hosted by the Department of Political Studies and Governance, in collaboration with the Free State Legislature, Pandor spoke about The Role of Intellectuals and Academics in moving South Africa forward. She challenged young minds to become the innovative game changers of tomorrow and stressed the importance of tertiary education and its impact on national developments.

“Our country and the world need large quantities of undergraduate institutions,” said Pandor. “We need new innovative partnerships. Private sector research and public sector research need to be married. And we as government should promote private sector development.”

Referring to the breakthrough for South Africa on Africa Day 2012, Pandor made it clear that South Africans have the potential to be first movers, although it has not always been the case. It was announced on Africa Day 2012 that Africa had been named as the preferred site for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope (http://www.ska.ac.za/releases/20120525.php). This undertaking contributed immensely in fuelling the interest in science and technology among South Africans.

“We cannot rely on the same things always. We as South Africans are not usually the first movers. We tend to adopt innovations from elsewhere. But, we need to do more to initiate innovative start-ups … especially in the fields of IT and high-tech innovations.”

Conclusively, this leads to the question of whether we as South African are doing enough to further build a new generation of intellectuals?

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