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29 August 2024
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Story Anthony Mthembu
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Photo Harmse Photography
Ross van Reenen, CEO of the Toyota Free State Cheetahs.
The Business School at the University of the Free State (UFS) recently hosted the CEO of the Toyota Free State Cheetahs, Ross van Reenen, for a guest lecture. Van Reenen presented the guest lecture in the Business School Auditorium on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus on 21 August 2024.
Reflecting on Van Reenen’s address
In a lecture addressed to an auditorium filled with UFS staff and students, Van Reenen’s talk was divided into several sections. Firstly, he spoke about the concept of the ‘black swan’ in reference to the book written by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, titled The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. Referring to Taleb’s book, Van Reenen defined a ‘black swan’ as a rare event that has a severe impact, and the occurrence of which people try to explain. He used some examples to explore this concept as well as its implications, including COVID-19 and its impact on the world, and the tragic death of the people in the Titanic disaster. However, he delved deeper into 9/11 and the extent of its impact, saying that “9/11 was a major wake-up call in the world economy”. Van Reenen highlighted how some companies such as Barclays, for which he previously consulted, had to work to be up and running after the collapse of the Twin Towers in 9/11.
In addition, Van Reenen’s lecture also touched on the importance of the first ninety days of a job after an individual has been employed. “Those first ninety days are crucial, as you have to establish yourself in a company where you are paid less than you are worth,” Van Reenen said. As such, he gave the audience insight into what they could focus on in that time frame. This includes focusing on the small wins, as well as ensuring that you are working at keeping the team together, as the team is an integral part of an organisation.
Van Reenen concluded his address by speaking about his time as the CEO of the Toyota Free State Cheetahs, including some of the decisions he took to ensure the success of the organisation.
UFS researchers help find opportunities to create knowledge
2016-09-15
The initiative hopes that the mobile libraries
will continue to contribute towards literature
awareness and access to books at rural
schools in the Free State.
Photo: Supplied
Did you know that only 3 392 primary schools in South Africa have libraries? In the Free State the statistics are shocking. Only 277 primary schools have libraries, while 1 087 carry on without them. One of nine provinces in South Africa, the Free State is regarded as a rural province. The South African Primary Education Support Initiative (SAPESI), in partnership with other sponsors, has committed to expanding access to books by donating mobile libraries to service schools across South Africa. In the Free State, the project is embraced by the Free State Department of Education, which employs the mobile operators and library assistants to service these libraries, driving many kilometres of gravel road to visit remote farm schools and other under-resourced schools. SAPESI has set a goal to supply 75 mobile libraries to provide 2 000 schools with access to books by the year 2020.
Discovering the value of the mobile libraries
Although the mobile libraries in the Free State have been functioning since 2007, no formal research had been conducted on their work. Towards the end of 2014, the Free State Department of Education and the Flemish Association for Development Cooperation and Technical Assistance (VVOB) commissioned the UFS to carry out a participatory action research project. Dr Lynette Jacobs, Head of the School of Education Studies at the University of the Free State’s Faculty of Education and her team engaged with role-players at district and provincial level in a Participatory Action Research project.
The research project aimed to describe the work that mobile libraries do, and appraise its influence on learners and schools, towards improving their functionality. In addition, this project aimed to build research capacity within the district teacher development centres.
Highlights of the mobile library project
The way the Free State Department of Education embraced and supported the initiative by Mr Tad Hasunuma and SAPESI, was inspiring. Each of the five education districts has two fully equipped library buses that periodically visit schools. The stock on the buses is regularly replaced by books that SAPESI receives from the international community. Specific books are also loaded for teachers to use as resources. One of the outcomes of the research project was that guidelines were developed for teachers on how to use books in addition to curriculum material in the classroom. At district level, the teams reflected on the work that they were doing and implemented improvement plans to provide an even better service. Findings of the project were presented at the XIV Annual International Conference of the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society that focused on education provision earlier this year. It was lauded by representatives of the international education community as an example of good practice to provide education to marginalised children.
Reading helps enrich children’s lives
The research project concluded by stating that the aim of the mobile libraries was to provide learners and teachers at rural and farm schools with reading books, and they were doing as best they could. While the mobile libraries cannot make up for possible challenges related to teaching and learning or in infrastructure, the learners and the teachers are regularly provided with good resources to encourage reading and stimulate literacy development.