CPUT Entrepreneur

We just witnessed an emotional farewell. Our exchange students – Tim, Mark and Chris – will be returning to Austria in December 2011 after what they called ‘an experience of a lifetime’. They spoke highly of the department as well as the university. They especially praised the lecturing team for going the extra mile in seeing that the students understood what was taught. They said ‘you guys had a hands-on approach to teaching and learning’. They were however not delighted that it took them a while to get into the grove of things because of the cultural differences and promised to return at some point in the future. Tim and Co presented the department with a bouquet of flowers (which so thrilled the head of department) and a bottle of an Austrian brew. The head of department, Mrs Raja-Yusuf thanked them for first being good students and secondly for the opportunity to come say goodbye. She wished them well on behalf of the department and the faculty. The pictures of the very emotional m

Y-AGE. Building Entrepreneurs. Creating Jobs. Y-AGE is now a fully-fledged and supported Public-Private partnership initiative. The project aims to recruit 100 000 young people in Gauteng to be trained, mentored, funded and assisted to run their own businesses. The entrepreneurs will then return to their various businesses where they will each endeavour to employ 3 to 5 people. With the growth of each business, the goal of creating 1 million jobs will be realised. Imagine how the lives connected to those 100 000 entrepreneurs can change. This project can change the face of our province, and eradicate a host of social problems. Ten steps towards a million jobs The programme is made up of ten steps. Each step is carefully considered and will be led by dedicated staff. These ten steps are the key to unlocking our big goal of a million jobs by 2012. The entrepreneurs that will be eligible to apply must fall within one of the following catagories: People with existing businesses, howe

Ladies & Gentlemen, it is with great excitement that I present to you the winners of the university's meritorious awards. A large number of them come from our dear department. And the following are some of the pictures. Enjoy!

 Mark Dzoro, Editorial Committee member  On the 19 th of October 2011 our department held the first meeting with the senior students. It came at a time when the 3 rd year students were coming back from their work posts which they had been deployed at. The purpose of the meeting was to show appreciation to the 2 nd year class who put up excellent work during the University’s OPEN DAY. One of the nicest things about studying is the opportunity of expressing your theoretical knowledge and background to the actual and real world. In-service learning is a fundamental part of our Entrepreneurship curriculum as it provides the student platform to work in any organisation of choice.   This is however difficult in terms of securing a placement taking into consideration that the university has a department mainly meant for assisting students to get a placement. The third year students gave their word of advice and mainly stressed six important points which were;         i.         Apply

Dr Richard Ruben Mark Dzoro writes: Ruben Richards seems an all round person. This successful entrepreneur emphasised the significance of entrepreneurship and how the youth of today can engage as well as enhance their business ideas in order to be successful. Dr Ruben Richards defines entrepreneurship as the ability to “monetise creativity”. He joked, albeit with a hint of serious, that entrepreneurship could be visualised as “having sex with a porcupine.” This signifies that entrepreneurship can be both exciting and challenging (imagine wading through the spines and quills, with all the pricks). The prickly part of the entrepreneurial life is that it presents many challenges and is highly beneficial for South Africa growth. Thus entrepreneurs are encouraged to tread the triple bottom entrepreneurship journey with caution. The triple bottom simply means social, economic, and political factors in which the business and entrepreneur operate in. In terms of economic factors that are af

The 2 nd International Business Management Conference took place at the University of KwaZulu Natal, Westville Campus, Durban. The two-day conference (28 th & 29 th September, 2011) attracted a large number of academics from around the world. Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) sent four academics who presented papers that were well received. CPUT academics at the conference included Dr Stan Cronje (Public Management), Barry Odendaal (HRM), Peter Veeran (Public Management), and your very own Chux Gervase Iwu.   Former HoD, Prof Wilfred Ukpere was also in attendance. My paper dealt with the issue of short supply of and access to both prescribed and recommended textbooks. Short supply refers to the library not acquiring enough support texts, while access refers to the lack of funds by the student to own a prescribed or recommended textbook. My   study indicated that given the challenges of short supply of and access to tools of study, universities and colleges will fore