Postgrads learn how to become ‘academic entrepreneurs’
- Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ University
To grow their entrepreneurial spirit and skills, 70 postgraduate students attended the Pan-African Entrepreneurship Week during the winter break.
Hosted by Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ University’s Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct, the week-long workshop is one of the outcomes of the robust partnership through years of collaboration between the Universities of the Witwatersrand and Edinburgh.
Most attending students were drawn from Mastercard Foundation Scholars (some on campus in Edinburgh, Scotland, and online distance learners, based across the African continent). Ten Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ students also joined the immersive eight-day programme.
Bonolo Motau, a Master of Commerce student at Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½, said ‘The workshop has been amazing, jam-packed with many activities on enterprise, teaching us how to become academic entrepreneurs and take our academia further’.
The programme focussed on teaching entrepreneurial skills and provided a contextual understanding of these skills within the broader social and historical landscape. The students visited various entrepreneurship sites around Johannesburg to reflect and be inspired as they plan their entrepreneurial journeys.
“The best thing about this collaboration between Edinburg and Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ is expanding the network of Mastercard Foundation Scholars, we brought together many students from across Africa and their networks will be bigger after this trip,” said Richard Palmer, Enterprise Officer at Edinburgh Innovations.
The Entrepreneurship Week aimed to empower students to embrace leadership roles, instil a spirit of entrepreneurship, and nurture their abilities to articulate vision and build resilience.
About the W-E alliance
The Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½-Edinburgh (W-E) alliance champions extensive research partnerships, joint teaching initiatives, and shared resources.
In 2022, Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ and Edinburgh, alongside Tshimologong and the African Circular Economy Network (ACEN), secured £100,000 under the Innovation in African Universities (IAU) project.
This funding established the Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ Entrepreneurship Clinic (WEC) in May last year under Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½’ School of Business Sciences. Additionally, £20,000 was granted to foster collaboration within the IAU community.