NWU Business School

Progress so far on the implementation of the SDGs has been uneven across countries in Africa. According to the Africa SDG Index, the best-ranked country in Africa is Mauritius. It has been argued that the financing of the sustainable development goals in Africa is a huge concern.

In this interview, the NWU Business School's Prof Anet Smit, speaks to Prof. Mohamed Amine from the ISSAMI Business School in Morocco about the debt situation in Africa and the consequences thereof.

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At the NWU Business school we have embarked on an Africanisation drive to contribute and ensure development in our own continent. Our Africanisation drive is based on the AU Agenda 2063 as well as the UN 2030 Agenda sustainable development goals (SDG). Obviously, much research need to be done to ensure there is new knowledge in Africa to realise the UN 2030 Agenda. It has been noted that not much has been published in Africa to realise the SDG's.

In 2017 Stella Nkomo, a NRF A rated researcher in Business and Management Sciences, published an article ‘Time to look in the mirror: Producing management theory and knowledge for Africa’ in the Africa Journal of Management stating: “the responsibility of scholars interested in management and organizations in Africa to take up the complex challenges of producing management theory and knowledge for Africa. We have two major responsibilities at this juncture. One is to build a strong intellectual community association; and the second is to generate management theory and practice for the benefit of the continent”.

In this Bon Bon interview, the NWU Business School's Prof Yvonne du Plessis seek to gain deeper insights from Prof Stella Nkomo on what and how Business Schools can create new knowledge by doing relevant and impactful research in Africa. The insights that will be gained will assist to embrace and contribute to relevant and impactful research in Africa.

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The African continent has various levels of women emancipation, and as such the role that women play in the economy differs vastly. What challenges do women face in South African workplace and also in Africa? How do they overcome these women-specific challenges to play their part at work and in the economy, and to what extent can their experiences help other women to overcome their challenges?

One woman who successfully started out and worked her way to the top is professor Kiveshnie Naidoo. Prof Naidoo is PhD Alumnus of the North-West University Business School and is currently employed as the Academic Director of probably the largest private higher education institution in Africa. Prof Naidoo speaks openly about her challenges as a woman in business world, and how she negotiated these challenges. She passionately offers advice to other women who might experience challenges in their place of employment.

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Pursuing an academic career once during a period in time where male domination was prevalent, Prof Susan Visser was able to climb the academic ladder at the North-West University for a period in excess of 46 years. She left her mark in the field of accounting education and received numerous awards for her role as a female leader in Africa.

This Bon Bon interview aims to emphasize her role, the challenges she had to overcome and her advice to upcoming leaders as to the recipe for success whilst circumstances might not be that favourable.

Prof Jan van Romburgh, chief director of the NWU Business School, interviewed her.

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Dr Anna Mokgokong, the current Chancellor of the North-West University is a renowned South African businesswoman, who has not just contributed to Africa, but also globally due to her extra-ordinary entrepreneurial spirit and abilities. She has received many prestigious awards and accolades, to mention one - she was inducted into the Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World. Dr Mokgokong is an absolute inspiration and African Business Icon (role model) not just to women, but to all genders in Africa.

In this Bon Bon interview, the NWU Business School's Prof Yvonne du Plessis spoke to Dr Mokgokong about entrepreneurial success in Africa and what it is that should be done to change the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Africa to enable more Africans to succeed beyond micro–enterprises.

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In this interview, Prof Hein Prinsloo of the NWU Business School interviewed Ms Mafusi Molefe, about her role in African based community development.

She is a graduate from the University of Johannesburg (BA Hons) in development studies. Her primary interest focus on “positive change in rural communities” and was initially inspired by various volunteering opportunities with Food and Trees for Africa – Izindaba Zokudla and Sustainable community development at Waaipoorrt farm. Currently she focus her energy on permaculture. This knowledge is also applied in communities in her country of birth – Lesotho. Beside permaculture, she further focus on the ethics at the workplace (sustainable farming).

After the completion of a course on “Education for sustainable development” by Earth charter and UNESCO, this enabled her to establish a relationship with the community of Mautsi primary school (Rosendal). This relationship contribute to the establishing of a functioning school garden project.

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The African continent is sitting on a golden opportunity that has a development mandate all over the world and that is its sport industry. The challenge of delivering sports development in Africa persists. Creating opportunities for young people in disadvantaged communities might not be easily resolved whilst poverty and social deprivation continue. Kalonge (2016) remarked that “sporting activities have a wide range of benefits, from personal health, job creation and income-generation to the promotion of cultural values and national identity”.

In an interview with Dr. Jacques Faul CEO of Northern Titans and a very experienced sports business administrator having previously also been the acting CEO of Cricket South Africa, he shared some of his views with the NWU Business School's Prof Ronnie Lotriet on the issues of sport in Africa. The Northern Titans have an African and international focus, and as such involved with some sub-Saharan African countries as strategic alliances in this sporting code.

Advocate Sandile Nogxina has dedicated a large part of his career to the public sector. He has worked in various capacities as a Researcher, Legal Advisor and a Special Advisor. He has served as the Deputy Director-General of the Department of Public Service and Administration.

He commenced his career as a public prosecutor in the Department of Justice from 1982 to 1984. He was the Legal Advisor and Researcher in the ANC Department of Legal and Constitutional Affairs from 1987 – 1990. He worked as the Senior Researcher in the Centre for Development Studies at the University of the Western Cape from 1991 to 1994 prior to assuming the Special Assignment Post in the Legal Department of the World Bank from February to September 1994.

In April 1996 he joined the Ministry of Public Service and Administration as the Deputy Director General Public Service and Reform and from April 1996 to January 1998 he was the DDG in the same department for Human Resource Management. He took up the post of Director-General of the Department of Minerals and Energy in February 1998 until June 2011. He was the advisor the Minister of Mineral Resources from July 2011 to 2012. He was appointed as the Ambassador to Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama (concurrently) from March 2012 to March 2018. From 2011 to date has been the special advisor to the Minister of Minerals and Energy.

He has made enormous contribution to the world-class legal framework South Africa can boast about today within the minerals, mining and energy sector.

In this Bon Bon interview, the NWU Business School's Prof Mala Singh discusses his various experiences and views about leadership and transformation in a South African context.

Transparency International’s 2020 Corruption Perception Index (“CPI”) “paints a grim picture of the state of corruption worldwide. While most countries have made little to no progress in tackling corruption in nearly a decade, more than two-thirds of countries score below 50”

With an average score of 32 the Sub-Saharan Africa region is the lowest performing region on the CPI showing little improvement from previous years and underscoring a need for urgent action. South Africa (43) is in the 9th best position in the Sub-Saharan African region of 49 countries. Analysis of the 2020 CPI shows that “corruption not only undermines the global health response to COVID-19, but contributes to a continuing crisis of democracy”. Bribery impedes access to basic services. The 2019 Global Corruption Barometer Africa Report shows that more than one out of four people – or approximately 130 million citizens in the 35 African countries surveyed – paid a bribe to access essential public services, like health care.

In this Bon Bon edition the focus will be on identifying what practical measures or structures can or should be implemented to combat fraud and corruption. What can we learn from other African countries, either through their successes or progress that have been made, or through the lessons they have learnt?

The NWU now has available an important diagnostic tool which enables exporters and governments to identify potential markets which can promote trade in various parts of the world. Called the TRADE-DSM or Decision Support Model (DSM), it was developed by Prof Wilma Viviers, the World Trade Organisation's Chairperson and research professor at the North-West University a few years ago and is already in widespread use.

Professor Raymond Parsons, of the NWU Business School, here interviews Prof Viviers on how the DSM can be further utilized in particular to expand African trade. With the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement it has become even more essential for both the private and public sectors to make best use of a mechanism like the DSM to enlarge the trade footprint on the continent.

In the interview Prof Viviers outlines how the DSM works, what experience has already been gained through mobilizing it for certain African countries, and how the increasingly sophisticated use of the DSM can add considerable value to export efforts in Africa. It is a tool that promises to empower both business and governments to unlock potent data about export opportunities in Africa.

For more information about the TRADE Research Advisory, please go to: www.tradeadvisory.co.za