News

RSM students encounter international business and township entrepreneurs in South Africa

RSM students encounter international business and township entrepreneurs in South Africa

Meetings with wine producers, local NGOs and small entrepreneurs active in a township economy were part of the South Africa study trip schedule for students from the Executive MBA (EMBA) programme at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM). Students are provided with empirical experience of international business courtesy of the programme’s International Immersion Experience, as part of their two-year study programme.

The five-day trip included lectures and speaker sessions at the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science, aimed at helping students understand the broader context for doing business in South Africa. After a general introduction to the South African economic and political landscape, topics included the issue of HIV/AIDS, sustainability and social corporate responsibility within the context of South Africa, and the principle of ‘innovation at the base of the pyramid’.

The students also visited townships around Cape Town, including Philippi and Gugulethu, Khayelitsha, Nyanga and Langa, where they visited local households and interacted with small entrepreneurs that form such an important part of the township economy.

Wine-producing is an important contributor to the Cape Town business landscape, and is achieving considerable international success. EMBA students visited the Rustenberg Winery, where hosts Simon Barlow, Murray Barlow and Dave Hutton gave students an overview of the winemaking process and discussed opportunities and challenges faced by the South African wine industry.

Four local NGOs became the focus for students’ on-site projects; Emasithandani Children’s Home, Embo’nangoku Arts Movement, the Kuyasa CDM Pilot Project which involves the retrofitting of solar water heaters, insulation and energy efficient lighting to 2,300 low-cost homes in Khayelitsha; and Masidlale Music School which teaches music to township children.  EMBA students proudly raised 15,000 ZAR (around €1,500) to donate to the organisations.

During the week, students listened to guest speaker Lee Swan, Manager of Sustainability and Climate Change at Deloitte SA. Ms Swan was the first South African woman granted a place in the Polar Race, a 650km and 23-day trail from the northern tip of Canada to the Magnetic North Pole over the frozen Arctic Ocean. Ms Swan presented her challenging trip, undertaken with two other team members, as an example of how ‘ordinary people can do extraordinary things and how limits are mostly inside our own head’.

Students were inspired by the energy and optimism that they encountered in South Africa as well as the insights into the opportunities and challenges faced by business in emerging markets, they said.

On the final day of the trip, student teams presented creative and interactive reports to an audience of peers and NGO representatives, raising awareness for – and sharing insights into – the complexity of issues and opportunities faced by the township entrepreneurs. RSM’s OneMBA and EMBA students based in Johannesburg also raised funds to be divided amongst the projects they had encountered and worked with during their trip.

Saskia Treurniet, Director of the Global Executive OneMBA programme at RSM said: “What an incredible and meaningful experience this week has been! Students and staff felt honoured and humbled to meet and interact with so many inspirational individuals, and there were many, many lessons learned!”

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University is consistently ranked amongst the top 10 business schools in Europe. It is located in the international port city of Rotterdam where core Dutch values of openness, flexibility and acceptance of diversity have attracted businesses on a global scale. Our emphasis is on ground breaking research and practices relevant to business; our primary focus is on developing business leaders who carry their innovative ideas into a sustainable future. Our portfolio includes a broad array of bachelor, master, doctoral, MBA and executive education programmes. 

For more information on this release, please contact Marianne Schouten, Media & Public Relations Manager for RSM, on +31 10 408 2877 or by email at mschouten@remove-this.rsm.nl.