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UFS Business School celebrates six visionary leaders who contributed to a legacy of excellence

13 March 2025 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Tanya Allen

Founders 2025 — Celebrating the legacy and achievements of the UFS Business School were, from the left, front: Prof Liezel Massyn, Dr Cornelie Crous; second row: Prof Hendri Kroukamp, Prof Frederick Fourie, Prof Niel Viljoen; third row: Prof Ben Anderson, Prof Tienie Crouse; back: Prof Philippe Burger and Prof Nicolene Barkhuizen.

During a special event held at the Business School on the Bloemfontein Campus on 10 March 2025, the University of the Free State (UFS) paid tribute to the founders and those who helped build the UFS Business School to its current standing.

Those recognised include Prof Frederick Fourie, Prof Niel Viljoen, Prof Helena van Zyl, Prof Tienie Crous, Prof Hendri Kroukamp, and Prof Ben Anderson.

Prof Liezel Massyn, Associate Professor and Programme Director of the Bachelor of Management Leadership (BML) programme in the UFS Business School, welcomed the group of guests. "I remember, as a young academic growing within the faculty, seeing the five leadership principles come to life in practice. These practices demonstrate that a true leader challenges the status quo, inspires a shared vision, empowers others to take action, and leads by example. We have seen this throughout the development and growth of the Business School,” she said.

UFS Business School: a place with heart

According to Prof Philippe Burger, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, it was more than a third of a century ago – with the establishment of the Centre for Management Development – that this dream of creating a business programme to support the business community through training and educating people started.

“The UFS Business School is the one business school where a whole career development opportunity is provided. One could come in with just a school qualification and do from a higher certificate to a bachelor's degree, a postgraduate diploma, an MBA, and ultimately even a PhD.”

He continued, “The BML degree offered is unique because it provides individuals in their thirties and forties – who may have missed out on higher education but are ready to step into middle management – the opportunity to get that educational background. It also provides a learning space for those pursuing a bachelor’s degree without having to sit among school leavers. It is something we treasure in the Business School,” he said.

Prof Burger believes the UFS Business School is a place with heart. “It's a place where we care about our students.”

Prof Nicolene Barkhuizen, Director of the UFS Business School, opened her speech with a quote from Theodore Roosevelt: “The more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future.” “The best lessons come from the past,” she said, stating that it was a great privilege to celebrate the exceptional leaders who helped build the UFS Business School.

“Your legacy lies not only in what you have achieved, but in the inspiration you're leaving behind. Your contributions have set new standards of excellence, and your legacies will continue to inspire future generations.”

Her call to action was clear, “Honour the past, not just with admiration, but with action. The true essence of leadership is not only in remembering history but also making it.

Impressive reach of the Bachelor in Managerial Leadership

For former UFS Rector and Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Economics and Finance, Prof Frederick Fourie, establishing the Business School was an incredible achievement, despite scepticism about whether the Free State needed it without a strong corporate presence. “But we persevered and created something special that primarily served the needs of businesses in the Free State,” he said.

A key milestone for him was the introduction of the Bachelor of Managerial Leadership (BML) – the vision of Prof Ben Anderson, co-founder and Executive Director of the DaVinci Institute.

Prof Fourie reminisced on the lives that have been transformed – individuals who previously did not have the opportunity to earn a degree but now do, and who go on to become managers, senior managers, directors, and even government leaders. “This makes our Business School unique,” he said, expressing his pride in the MBA and the BML.

The qualification was developed in collaboration with DePaul University in Chicago, known for its expertise in adult learning.

Prof Anderson reflected on the collaborative effort that shaped the programme and highlighted the contributions of 27 corporates and industry representatives in its design, with an emphasis on a transdisciplinary approach that integrates knowledge from various fields to provide a broad and holistic view of managerial leadership. He also acknowledged the programme’s impressive reach, extending beyond South Africa into the broader African continent. He expressed pride in the impact of its graduates in both the public and private sectors.

For Prof Niel Viljoen, the founding director of the Business School and later Vice-Rector: Operations, the greatest highlight was the opportunity to make a lasting difference in people's lives. “It is a wonderful privilege, and we were able to do it for many years and are still doing it now.” He also recalled the first course presentations – from the Management Development Programme to the first MBA class. “It was full of jokes from morning till evening. We once forgot a lecture for the MBA! Moments like those stay with you, because there’s only one first time for everything.”

He also cherished the support from the university leadership, colleagues, and the Free State business community, all of whom played an important role in the school’s success.

Prof Tienie Crous, who became Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences in 1999, also recalled the agreement with DePaul University. As one of the first four participants in an MBA summer school there, he described how the experience broadened their perspectives and exposed them to a well-run business school. Inspired by this, they returned to teach classes themselves. The faculty also later sent senior colleagues to the United States for six weeks annually to gain industry insights.

Students making a difference

Prof Hendri Kroukamp, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences from 2012 to 2022, focused on defining the Business School’s niche alongside then-Director Prof Helena van Zyl. They positioned the school as a leading medium-sized institution, earning national recognition in 2016.

He said when he thinks of the Business School, the staff stand out – their professionalism and dedication to serving students. “These are not first-year students; they are adult learners. Adult learners require a completely different approach – you must, as a lecturer, ensure you are well-prepared and informed, because they will quickly pick up if you are not knowledgeable, and that can cost you credibility.”

He believes that the Business School does more than award qualifications. “We produce students who will make a difference in their communities and environments.”

Prof Helena van Zyl, the longest-serving director of the UFS Business School, was key in shaping it into a boutique business school with strong international ties. Under her leadership, the Business School achieved remarkable milestones, a testament to her impactful leadership. Beyond the UFS, she has also played an important role in the broader organisation of business schools in South Africa by leading in the promotion and advancement of the sector.

News Archive

Studies to reveal correlation between terrain, energy use, and giraffe locomotion

2016-11-18

More than half of giraffes in captivity in Europe are afflicted by lameness. This high prevalence represents an important welfare issue, similar to other large zoo animals.

According to Dr Chris Basu, a veterinarian at the Royal Veterinary College in the UK, giraffes in captivity are often afflicted by overgrown hooves, laminitis and joint problems. Diagnosis and treatment is limited by our understanding of anatomy and function, more specifically the locomotion of these animals. Although the giraffe is such a well-known and iconic animal, relatively little has been studied about their locomotor behaviour.

Dr Basu recently visited South Africa to do fieldwork on the locomotion of giraffes as part of his PhD studies under the mentorship of world-renowned Professor of Evolutionary Biomechanics, Prof John Hutchinson. This project is a joint venture between Dr Basu and Dr Francois Deacon, researcher in the Department of Animal, Wildlife, and Grassland Sciences at the UFS. Dr Deacon is a specialist in giraffe habitat-related research.

Together Prof Hutchinson and Drs Deacon and Basu form a research group, working on studies about giraffe locomotion.

Wild giraffe population decrease by 40% in past decade

“Locomotion is one of the most common animal behaviours and comes with a significant daily energetic cost. Studying locomotion of wild animals aids us in making estimates of this energetic cost. Such estimates are useful in understanding how giraffes fit into ecosystems. Future conservation efforts will be influenced by knowledge of the energy demands in giraffes.

“Understanding aspects of giraffe locomotion also helps us to understand the relationships between anatomy, function and evolution. This is relevant to our basic understanding of the natural world, as well as to conservation and veterinary issues,” said Dr Deacon.

Locomotion study brings strategy for specialist foot care

On face value it seems as if foot disease pathologies are more common in zoo giraffes than in wild giraffes. “However, we need a good sample of data from both populations to prove this assumption,” said Dr Basu.

This phenomenon is not well understood at the moment, but it’s thought that diet, substrate (e.g. concrete, straw, sand and grass) and genetics play a part in foot disease in giraffes. “Understanding how the feet are mechanically loaded during common activities (standing, walking, running) gives our research group ideas of where the highest strains occur, and later how these can be reduced through corrective foot trimming,” said Dr Basu.

Through the studies on giraffe locomotion, the research group plans to devise strategies for corrective foot trimming. At the moment, foot trimming is done with the best evidence available, which is extrapolation from closely related animals such as cattle. “But we know that giraffes’ specialist anatomy will likely demand specialist foot care,” Dr Basu said.

Studying giraffes in smaller versus larger spaces

The research group has begun to study the biomechanics of giraffe walking by looking at the kinematics (the movement) and the kinetics (the forces involved in movement) during walking strides. For this he studied adult giraffes at three zoological parks in the UK.

However, due to the close proximity of fencing and buildings, it is not practical to study fast speeds in a zoo setting.

A setting such as the Willem Pretorius Nature Reserve, near Ventersburg in the Free State, Kwaggafontein Nature Reserve, near Colesberg in the Karoo, and the Woodland Hills Wildlife Estate in Bloemfontein are all ideal for studying crucial aspects such as “faster than walking” speeds and gaits to measure key parameters (such as stride length, step frequency and stride duration). These studies are important to understand how giraffe form and function are adapted to their full range of locomotor behaviours. It also helps to comprehend the limits on athletic capacity in giraffes and how these compare to other animals.

Drones open up unique opportunities for studying giraffes

The increasing availability of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)/drones opens up unique opportunities for studying locomotion in animals like giraffes. Cameras mounted onto remotely controlled UAVs are a straightforward way to obtain high-quality video footage of giraffes while they run at different speeds.

“Using two UAVs, we have collected high definition slow motion video footage of galloping giraffes from three locations in the Free State. We have also collected detailed information about the terrain that the giraffes walked and ran across. From this we have created 3D maps of the ground. These maps will be used to examine the preferred terrain types for giraffes, and to see how different terrains affect their locomotion and energy use,” said Dr Deacon.

“The raw data (videos) will be digitised to obtain the stride parameters and limb angles of the animals. Later this will be combined with anatomical data and an estimation of limb forces to estimate the power output of the limbs and how that changes between different terrains,” said Dr Basu.

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