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03 October 2024
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Story Ansie Barnard
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Photo Supplied
From left to right: Londeka Mkhwanazi, Semither Mkhize, Salima van Schalkwyk, Slindokuhle Ndlovu, Asanda Mpinga, Mantombi Molefe, Ntombinkulu Khumalo, Mosebjadi Chauke and Thembinkosi Mkhwanazi.
The Amrut Foundation, in partnership with the University of the Free State (UFS), successfully hosted its Inaugural Innovathon at the UFS Qwaqwa Campus. This competition is designed to identify and support innovative products and services that not only generate profit but also contribute to the public good, with a strong emphasis on ethical business practices. Through this collaboration, students gain national exposure for their businesses and receive support to create sustainable social enterprises.
Five teams of student social entrepreneurs from the Qwaqwa campus were shortlisted to participate in the regional finals. Their selection was based on ventures that adhered to a social entrepreneurship model and demonstrated plans for long-term profitability and sustainability.
During the Innovathon, a panel of judges from the UFS, the Amrut Foundation, and the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) selected two outstanding teams to represent the UFS at the national finals, which will take place in October. The winning ventures, Biofly-Pro and Root Rescue were each awarded R20,000 to further develop and expand their initiatives.
Hemang Desai, Executive Director of the Amrut Foundation, expressed his enthusiasm for the event: "Amrut is proud to co-host the Free State leg of the inaugural Innovation Challenge with the UFS. Supporting students with entrepreneurial ambitions that align with societal care is one of our key focus areas."
Dr Grey Magaiza, Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director for the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies at the UFS, highlighted the importance of social entrepreneurship: “Social entrepreneurship is a collaborative effort towards creating sustainable and ethical business processes. The two winning projects embody these principles, and we look forward to their continued growth. In line with our Vision 130, social entrepreneurship can serve as a critical lever for university-community engagement.”
Congratulations to Biofly-Pro and Root Rescue on their well-deserved achievements!
Humour a powerful tool to address serious issues
2017-12-06
Michelle Malan received a Dean’s medal from the Faculty of Humanities at the mid-year
graduation ceremonies for her Master’s degree.
Photo: Jóhann Thormählen
People, in most contexts, are more open to engage in serious issues such as politics and economics if it is presented in a humorous way. This makes humour a very powerful tool to address burning issues in our society.
These are some of the findings in the research of Michelle Malan, a part time lecturer in the Department of Linguistics and Language Practice at the University of the Free State (UFS).
How comedians and cartoonists use humour
The basic premise of her research, titled The Intersemiotic Translation of Humour, was to see how comedians and cartoonists take news stories and translate it into humour. She received the Dean’s medal for the best Master’s degree in the Faculty of the Humanities at the mid-year graduation ceremonies in June 2017.
“More specifically, I explored how the medium constrains potential meaning-making in cases of intersemiotic translation in which humour is constructed,” she says.
Cartoon vs a comic television show
According to her the medium in which a message is given, in this case comedy, definitely influences how one is able to form meaning from it. “For instance, a cartoon (visual medium) would have a different meaning-making potential than a comic television show.”
She also notes that one must understand the workings of humour, which includes the mediums in which it is presented, so that the intended humour does not do more harm than good.