by Siyamthanda Pongco
Rhodes University kicked off its internal 6th annual Student Entrepreneurship Week (SEW)
2022 on the evening of 12 September at Eden Grove Red. A weeklong event through the
launch of Student Entrepreneurship Week (#SEW2022) until 17th Sept 2022. Entrepreneurship
Development in Higher Education (EDHE) supports this annual national event. The SEW is an
annual event where each university displays and showcases opportunities for student
entrepreneurs. The program supported by Universities South Africa (USAf) is people-focused, intending to develop the entrepreneurial capacity of students, academics, and leaders.
The purpose of the SEW is to support and equip potential student-preneurs in starting
businesses that could be sustainable and scalable. However, universities are encouraged to
host their own in-house programmes and campaigns to showcase student and university
initiatives and the support available for student entrepreneurship.
The evenings’ programme director (MC) Mr. Bonolo Moche, indicated that he was the
chairperson for the student entrepreneurship community of practice (CoP) for Rhodes. He
shared the platform with Prof Tshidi Mohapeloa from Rhodes Business School. Both
highlighted EDHE's primary focus, which is to encourage students to become economically active participants during and after their tertiary education.
According to Prof Mohapeloa, “Entrepreneurial activity during their studies could enable
students to generate an additional income and fast-track the process of becoming
economically active. Upon graduation, students could consider entrepreneurship as a career,
either as a first choice or as an alternative, especially if they have difficulty finding
employment."
Thus, both Prof with the chair have been working tremendously to make the Student Entrepreneurship Week a success at Rhodes University. The entrepreneurship theme of the SEW 2022 is #movetomarket, looking to encourage students on how they can better market, sell and grow their business.
"Student Entrepreneurship Week has been taking place even during the lockdown regulations
brought by Covid-19 (2020-2021). Unfortunately, some students might not be aware or even
heard of it. Covid-19 made the situation as we could not engage with the students,
speakers, and business innovators," Prof Mohapeloa said.
Despite working under these unpredecendented times of Covid-19, Prof Mohapeloa said it
has been necessary to keep up the momentum and get students to participate in the country's economy. Diverse invited guest speakers shared opportunities and experiences linked to entrepreneurial endeavours herewith opening up many conversations.
Mrs Karen Snyman, the Student entrepreneurship Community of Practice (CoP) and the
student women economic empowerment programme (SWEEP) coordinator at Nelson
Mandela University (NMU) talked about the importance of networking as entrepreneurship.
She urged the students to network to take their businesses to greater heights. Mrs Snyman
said that it is key to strive for balance, time and energy, and sacrifice, as these are some of the
most important things to note if you are a student entrepreneur. She emphasized the need for
students to form groups, go out there and be bold despite the challenges one may encounter.
Ms. Lindokuhle Nene, a Ph.D. candidate at Rhodes University and winner of the Hult Prize
in 2019 talked about her experiences, how she started to get involved in business even
though she knew nothing about business or had never imagined getting into an entrepreneurial space. Since winning the Hult Prize Ms. Nene runs her business and works with a local school on robotics and coding.
EDHE Student Design Winner, Mr Evans Serumula, founder of SM Africa talked about
branding and its impact. He used the analogy of "First impressions". The same way you want your crush to perceive you on your first impression is the same way you should be treating your business. Mr. Serumula urged student entrepreneurs to invest in how they, as entrepreneurs, look at the client, how you sell your business, your logo, your presentation, all those are core details that will keep your clients or customers keep coming back to your business. He brought along some fun and games where winners of his exciting competitions had an opportunity to have their businesses branded by SM Africa, Mr Serumula’s company.
Other activities for the Student Entrepreneurship Week at Rhodes University were as follows;
- Day 1 (12/09) Launch @ Eden Groove Red - 18:00
- Day 2(13/09) Master the art of Selling -Virtual -12:30
- Day 3 (14/09) Panel Discussion @ Rhodes Business School -18:00
- Day 4 (15/09) From Lab to Market @ RU Library -12:30
- Day 5 (16/09) Career Conversations with a serial entrepreneur@ Eden Groove
Room 3- 12:30
- Day 6 (17/09) Market day @ Nelson Mandela Hall- 10:00