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18 May 2023
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Story KEKELETSO TAKANG
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Photo PEXELS
The initiative is not only aimed at getting potential (nascent) entrepreneurs (students, lecturers, stream of external entrepreneurs) actively involved in entrepreneurship, but also to keep them engaged and take them through a value chain to enable them to establish and run a sustainable business. The Business Management Start-Up Initiative will equip students with practical experience, along with the theoretical knowledge that they will accumulate, thus delivering resilient, capable, proudly Kovsie students to industry.
Students will fundamentally understand how business works, improving their employability when they enter a business as employees, and providing them with the skills to become self-employed.
Students can look forward to several interactive sessions with knowledgeable presenters, who will guide them through a well-structured process to continuously evaluate their business ideas against the knowledge gained. Moreover, the active involvement of mentors implies that students will have access to expert sounding boards for advice and motivation. Lastly, due to the partnerships with external stakeholders, students will be exposed to ‘real-life’ industry situations, exposing them to a wealth of industry-specific knowledge.
And just in case that is not enough to get you excited, let the possibility of funding for your new venture be the last drop of motivation you need to fill your tank for action!
Come join the Business Management team every Wednesday between 13:00 and 14:00 in the Flippie Groenewoud Gebou (FGG) 378 to be part of this exciting opportunity!
For more information on the initiative and the topics, click here.
Valuable advice for businesses in difficult times
2013-04-15
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Prof Helena van Zyl, Director of the Business School, and Dr Reuel Khoza.
Photo: Stephen Collett
15 April 2013 |
Dr Reuel Khoza, Chairman of the Nedbank Group, shared the group’s valuable rules for managing a bank in difficult times in an MBA lecture on the Bloemfontein Campus. Dr Khoza is a visiting professor at the UFS Business School.
He focused in the lecture on the group’s business and leadership model and highlighted some do’s and don’ts:
- Do not surprise your stakeholders on the downside – communicate transparently, particularly when there is bad news.
- Retrenching staff to contain costs should be a last resort – the damage to corporate culture from retrenchments is immense. Follow and support your customers – get as close to them as possible because business changes slowly, but customer behaviour can change in an instant.
- Integrated central capital and funding management.
- Entrench well-established reporting, KPIs and measurement systems.
- Ensure strong independent risk management.
- Manage your cost base – anticipate downturns and re-base your costs to avoid crisis-cost management.
- Take advantage of opportunities – an economic downturn creates a situation where valuations fall and assets are sold off, which can be a great opportunity for acquisitions.
- Keep innovating – innovation does not have to be a costly exercise, as the right culture can promote and encourage experimentation and collaboration.
- Whatever you do – avoid a price war, as expedient pricing decisions may hurt the business in the longer term.