Sponsored Content

SPONSORED CONTENT

Africa’s top business school meets demand for ‘business for better’ in Africa

While an MBA continues to be a ticket to increased earning power and senior roles, the demand for sustainable and responsible management education is growing

There is a lot expected of business leaders today. So many of the challenges facing economies in emerging markets are around the ability to do simple things right – to get back to good business basics. At the same time leaders also need to be able to think big and to innovate, to be willing to try new things, to push new ideas to solve intractable problems. For a leader, this really means being able to create spaces where innovation in their organisations can thrive. They need to be entrepreneurial in mind and action. On top of this, ‘sustainable’ business skills also need to be accounted for. In emerging economies, there is an even greater demand for the right kind of leadership. Africa needs leaders who are ethical, who really understand from the inside out – that what they do, needs to be in the service of profit, certainly, but also always in the service of building a better world, improving the lives of ordinary people and communities where they operate. 

MBA students today are increasingly motivated to make a difference in the world and view business as an agent of change, rather than just a way of generating profit. In a country that is known for its stark wealth gap and mounting social and economic troubles, an MBA programme that aligns its teaching, processes and content with a societal focus will stand out from the rest.

To meet this demand in the emerging market context, African business schools need to create African leaders who think in terms of relevance – business with a wider positive impact for all; values-based and values-driven.  Academics need to develop fresh ideas around values-based leadership, social innovation, and inclusive business.

A large number of students applying to the MBA programme at the UCT GSB do so specifically because of the school’s focus on social innovation, enterprise development, socially responsible investment, and impact investing – courses offered through the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship. This attention to positive social impact has become a significant draw card for students who recognise that these skills are becoming increasingly important attributes for the modern leader. 

The UCT GSB prides itself on developing the kind of leaders who think and act in a way that fosters innovation and positive change. Internationally recognised as Africa’s top business school, the UCT GSB is one of only around 100 schools globally to have achieved the coveted “Triple-Crown” accreditation, with accreditations from the Association of MBAs (AMBA), the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Both its MBA and Executive MBA (EMBA) programmes have been ranked top in Africa by the Financial Times.

The UCT GSB MBA programme is offered as a one-year full-time course, or in a two-year modular format. It provides a solid grounding in a broad range of complex business issues and is distinguished by a strong emphasis on values-based leadership and personal growth. The Allan Gray Centre for Values-Based Leadership at the UCT GSB is dedicated to exploring new ways of doing business based on purpose, sustainability and responsible practices that create dignity and belonging.

One of the fastest-growing postgraduate degrees at UCT, the UCT GSB’s EMBA programme is known for its focus on the practice of management and leadership, rather than on traditional training in business functions. It is targeted at senior, experienced individuals working in executive roles who consciously identify a need to enhance their ability to conceptualise, strategize and find more sustainable practices to allow them to flourish. The programme assumes competence in functional management and the fundamentals of business, and so emphasises process, synthesis, critique and insight, leading to the application of new learning relevant for the executive level.

Associate Professor Kosheek Sewchurran, Director of the EMBA programme at the UCT GSB explains that the EMBA challenges students with the realities of leading in a complex world. “To navigate this world, they need to be able to reflect on their context and who they are, in order to make sense of where they have come from and step boldly towards the future”. 

“We have focused on disclosing new worlds and opening strategies as opposed to trying to simplify the world through theories,” he says, adding that coming to grips with the lived experience of disharmony and complexity is a critical skill for leaders in disruptive and uncertain times. DM

Gallery

Comments - Please in order to comment.

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted