Guests at the Entrepreneurs Engage forum.
The forum provides students with an opportunity to engage with
successful local entrepreneurs who give them a realistic view of the
business world thus blending theory and practice.
The lecture was also linked to the action research project Shifting
Hope, Activating Potential Entrepreneurship (SHAPE) - a teaching and
learning programme which encourages young entrepreneurs to form networks
within the business sector.
Bauman - a specialist in industrial and commercial property
development who has embarked on various successful and failed
entrepreneurship ventures - shared his inspirational story about how he
chose to be an ethical businessman with the aim of empowering the
community.
‘For students, ethics is often only a book chapter but there is a
difference between reading about it and practising it. I have had a lot
of business ventures, some of them have failed but most of them are
successful and that is because I am ethical in all that I do,’ said
Bouman. ‘ I continuously empower myself with knowledge and I do what
makes me happy, that includes giving back to those who are less
fortunate than I am as they also need an opportunity to be successful.’
Bouman also spoke on the impotence of setting short and long term
goals, the value of going green in business, corporate responsibility
and surviving failure through self-motivation.
Students said they found the presentation inspirational and
educational. Entrepreneur, Mr Ndoda Ntilini, said the lecture provided
him with valuable information about how people not only buy your product
but also what you do to develop the community. He was excited about
adopting this principle in his business.
Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s newly appointed SMME
Manager, Ms Nana Sabela, who also attended the lecture, said she was
looking forward to getting actively involved with the SHAPE programme.
‘One never stops learning, that’s why it is important to make use of
forums like this to get an understanding of how business and ethics go
together,’ she said.