Universities must talk to each other about youth entrepreneurship and social innovation, and share knowledge to drive inclusive growth across South Africa.
This was a key message at the “Conversation on Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation” seminar held at the Centre for Entrepreneurship Rapid Incubator (CfERI) on North Campus on Friday 29 November 2024.
The Director of Nelson Mandela University’s new Africa Hub, Dr Thobekani Lose, facilitated the event, at which two senior representatives of the Vaal University of Technology (VUT) provided their perspectives.
Dr Thobekani Lose, who completed his Doctorate in Business at VUT, also heads CfERI, which is part of the Africa Hub.
Dr Simphiwe Nelani, Divisional Vice Chancellor Research, Innovation, Commercialisation and Internationalisation at VUT kicked off the conversations by looking at the importance of having an “entrepreneurship champion” in South African universities.
Dr Nelana said that while he was working on his doctorate in Chemistry, he was not taught to check for commercial opportunities.
“There was no part in the research process where we ask what the commercial opportunities are. There was never a time that I was told I can make money; it was all about researching and writing papers.”
If the core mandates of a researcher or academic at a university were teaching, learning, research and innovation, he asked, “why should you worry about commercialisation?”
However, universities had a responsibility to prepare students for the world of work.
With South Africa’s staggering high youth unemployment rate, it was imperative to encourage entrepreneurship.
“I took a decision to formally champion entrepreneurship in 2022, and in 2023 I went to my colleagues and asked them to take it seriously.”
VUT also backed this up with a financial commitment.
In 2023 he assembled a team and this year that team saw results when Dr Nelana was voted Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education Rising Star DVC of the year 2024.
For entrepreneurship to thrive on campus, it has to be embraced at a senior level.
“There needs to be someone who champions entrepreneurship, and it doesn’t matter which DVC is in charge as long as we are all committed to it.”
At Mandela for example, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor People and Operations, Luthando Jack is the champion, while at VUT it is Dr Nelana.
The Executive Director of Tech Transfer and Innovation VUT, Mr Maemo Kobe, followed Dr Nelani by addressing inclusive growth through social innovation.
Formerly an optometrist, Kobe worked in this field for several years after qualifying in 2004.
“I failed quite significantly so I looked at my business life and asked what is the common factor? It is me, I don’t know what I’m doing!” said Kobe.
When he looks back today at what went wrong, he realises that he did not have the support he needed to learn from his mistakes.
He later completed his MBA and joined VUT as he wanted to help others learn from his experiences of the entrepreneurial journey.
“It was an “aha!” moment when I started my MBA.
“When you look at entrepreneurship and the business that succeed, you will see that they get support,” said Kobe, citing the American government giving Tesla rebates for producing electric cars, which helped to make their product more appealing to the car-buying public.
“In South Africa, when you go to a bank and ask for a loan and have failed, they will not help you.
“At many institutions there is no support at the top for entrepreneurship – it is a compliance item that needs to be ticked.
He outlined the difference between push and pull innovation, saying that students or young entrepreneurs should choose “pull” over “push”: “In push innovation, you are trying to force feed the market what you want it to want while in pull innovation you need to know the real problem – and then solve it.”
Whatever the business idea, support was key.
“Innovation is not just about the product. The success rate is very low, you are going to fail, especially if you have not yet tested the product in the market,” said Kobe.
“We need to really encourage the entrepreneurs who took the first step, and failed, and let them know that this is how to correct.
“There is no way you will learn to ride the bicycle the first time, and it is the same for being an entrepreneur.”
He cautioned, however, that support was not unconditional, as young entrepreneurs also needed to be willing to listen, and to learn.
“We must appreciate the feedback that we receive, because we cannot know everything.”
CfERI was established at Mandela University in 2024 to help students and young people in the region to develop entrepreneurial skills and change their mindset from job seeker to job-creator.
Mandela University’s Karen Snyman, Specialist Student Entrepreneurship wrapped up the seminar by facilitating a lively question-and-answer session, ahead of networking between the participants and audience.