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29 June 2022 | Story Nonsindiso Qwabe | Photo Supplied
Enactus Qwaqwa Campus
Owning Their Future – Enactus students on the Qwaqwa Campus.

Empowered by the Enactus platform, a group of students on the Qwaqwa Campus are planting seeds of lifelong goodness in the Qwaqwa community.

Enactus is an international non-profit organisation that equips students to improve the world through entrepreneurial action by providing a platform for teams of outstanding students to create community development projects that put communities at the centre of improving their own livelihoods.

The group of seven students, namely Salima van Schalkwyk, Lehlohonolo Mokoena, Tubatse Moloi, Jennifer Links, Boikanyo Madisha, Bonagani Makwakwa, and Vuyo Mbamba, who are all pursuing undergraduate degrees in various disciplines, form part of Enactus.

Van Schalkwyk, the team leader and second-year Bachelor of Community Development student, said being part of Enactus has enabled them to make a tangible difference in the community around them.

“[As a team], we always assumed we knew what people go through on a daily basis, but we were in for a surprise. Despite the beautiful mountainous views of Qwaqwa, the people are in pain, one that is a cycle. When we look at all that we have discovered, all that we have heard and seen, we are moved to give the people of Qwaqwa a hand in being lifted to the surface.”

Leaving footprints of greatness for future generations

The team is currently competing in various competitions that seek to bring about social change. In 2021, the team was selected by MTN ICT as part of the top 12 nominees countrywide, receiving funding to develop an app that will assist students with mental health challenges. Apart from developing the app, they are also working on 7 Seeds, an agricultural enterprise that seeks to address the agricultural difficulties of a farm they identified in Qwaqwa.

Van Schalkwyk said they will be participating in the Enactus National Competition on 14 July 2022 and are gunning for the Enactus World Cup that will take place in Puerto Rico in October this year.

“Our vision as Enactus students is to create a better, more sustainable world for future generations. In the current economic situation our country is in, we believe that social entrepreneurship is the key to economic development and empowerment. Through Enactus, we hope to inspire many more students to submerge themselves in entrepreneurial activities. We live to leave footprints that lead to greatness for future generations,” she said.

News Archive

Nano research at the UFS opens door to smart drugs
2011-06-27

 

Prof. Lodewyk Kock, outstanding professor in our Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology

Novel antifungal, anticancer and anti-malaria drugs that have been identified in the research of Prof. Lodewyk Kock, outstanding professor in the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology at our university, will be disclosed later this year at major international conferences in Asia, Europe and the USA. Prof. Kock will be the keynote speaker at these conferences. 

His presentations will be based on the department’s discovery of yeast assays linked to a new nanotechnology for medicine. The assays were recently discovered by his group and can be applied in the development of novel antifungal, anticancer and anti-malaria drugs.
 
Prof. Kock’s focused research at the university, which now also includes his novel nanotechnology for Biology, began in 1982 in collaboration with Prof. Pieter van Wyk (Centre for Microscopy). He recently collaborated with Prof. Hendrik Swart (Department of Physics).
 
Prof. Kock says the development of novel anti-malaria drugs in particular is getting attention across the world due to the high rates of morbidity and mortality caused by the disease worldwide. Approximately 225 million people are infected annually and about a million (many in Africa) die each year. “Many potential smart drugs have been identified with this research and should now be tested further,” says Kock.
  
These new drugs will be disclosed during Prof. Kock’s keynote addresses at the International Conference and Exhibition on Pharmaceutical Regulatory Affairs in Baltimore, USA, from 6 to 7 September 2011, the Medichem 2011 in Beijing, China from 9 to 11 August 2011 and the XVI Congress of European Mycologists in Greece, from 19 to 23 September 2011.

 

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