Management
and Entrepreneurship honours students together with School of
Management, Information Technology and Governance academics.
The aim of the information sharing session was for academics in the Discipline of Management and Entrepreneurship to equip students with knowledge vital for success in their postgraduate studies.
The information shared included conducting research and research
methodologies, student expectations and also featured talks from the
business sector on the value of a postgraduate qualification in the
competitive career world.
Academic Leader and Lecturer: Management and Entrepreneurship, Dr
Ziska Fields and Lecturer, Mr Nigel Chiweshe, informed the students
about a new initiative facilitated by the Discipline known as the eZone.
The eZone is a website for postgraduate students and academics to
create a platform to write informative and practical articles to develop
entrepreneurial and managerial thinking and competencies. The overall
aim of the site is to get students and academics involved in sharing
their academic knowledge with their communities and with each other, in
an effort to enhance and stimulate entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial
thinking, next generation managerial thinking as well as to build
collaborative efforts between students, communities and academics.
The School’s priority is to enforce responsible management education
and development of competent and ethical leaders and managers in large
and small businesses.
Project Management Lecturer Dr Vannie Naidoo gave students guidance
on how to go about their research, collect data for their research and
balance their studies.
‘You must learn to open your mind to different modes of thinking out
of the box when it comes to your research. Don’t only point to a problem
you have identified, tell us how you came to that observation and what
your recommendations are. The key to unlocking opportunities is to
develop a style of critical thinking and writing,’ she said.
Dr Maxwell Phiri shared his experiences about entrepreneurship and
management from his sabbatical during which he had the opportunity to
travel to South Korea, while local entrepreneur and BCom Honours in
Small Business Management graduate, Mr Bright Shange, shared with the
students how the wealth of knowledge he acquired from his postgraduate
qualification helped him succeed in the business world.
Business Partners representatives Ms Janeesha Perumal and Mr Eston
Naidoo (a former student of UKZN) gave a presentation on financing small
to medium enterprises. They told students the basis upon which they
provide the capital and the general industries they focus on, and
emphasised the concept of innovation in business, as their company was
more likely to provide funding for such ventures.
Eston further shared his experiences from doing one of the
Entrepreneurship modules as an elective and how the module was of
benefit to him in his new career. Janeesha and Eston concluded their
presentation by encouraging the students to adopt an entrepreneurial
mind-set in order for them to come up with innovations that could be
funded to create successful ventures.