Re-Imagining South Africa's Sustainability through TSIBA
Author: TSIBA Business School
SA, with its majestic mountains, bountiful nature reserves, world-class technology, globally recognised knowledge institutions and progressive Constitution, is also home to pervasive unemployment and grinding poverty as reflected in the highest Gini.
It is within this context that TSIBA stands as a beacon of hope to its students, alumni, donors and broader ecosystem.
The dramatic decline in South Africa's political fortunes through pervasive corruption and poor governance has resulted in failing State Owned Enterprises and accelerating socio-economic demise. But this is a country worth fighting for and our collective responsibility to rejuvenate economic growth through skills development, inculcation of ethics and a productive citizenry has placed a responsibility on higher education institutions to address these issues with continued determination. As a higher education institution in South Africa, TSIBA Business School commits to continue working to address this core responsibility.
Indeed, it is within these spheres of social and economic impact that TSIBA has defined its value; to be responsive - by providing purpose-lived relevant education that is affordable and transformative to a diverse demographic of youth who are determined to take themselves, their communities and South Africa forward.
Re-imagining South Africa's Growth
There is little doubt that the complex challenges facing us here and abroad require empathetic leaders, innovative leadership and the co-creation of sustainable solutions. As we reflect on South Africa's Human Rights Day (March 21st) and Freedom Day (April 24th), TSIBA thus prioritises two aspirations: the right to human dignity through purpose-lived education, and access to economic citizenship through skills acquisition, self-leadership and knowledge development.
Pursuant of these aspirations, the first quarter of 2022 saw the Graduation of 96 TSIBA Alumni and the the launch and development of a number of innovative thought-leading projects:
Graduation 2022
The highlight of every year at TSIBA is our Annual Graduation Ceremony. This event celebrates the determination and ambition of every TSIBA student on the cusp of entering the world as a business graduate. The 2022 event was no exception. Held on campus in March TSIBA celebrated the graduation of 44 Bachelor of Business Administration in entrepreneurial leadership degree alumni and 52 Higher Certificate in Business Administration students, 49 of whom have continued with their academic studies as first-year BBA degree students this year. In addition, two prestigious awards, the annual Graham Lashbrooke Prize, named in honour of TSIBA Co-Founder, and the inaugural Professor Fatima Abrahams Award were bestowed upon two Alumni who had both achieved academic excellence while contributing significantly to their communities through the course of their studies here. This year TSIBA Graduates Mandilakhe Lungile and Siphumelele Koyana were the recipients of the Graham Lashbrooke Prize and Professor Fatima Abrahams Award respectively.
The theme of PURPOSE-LIVED has thus always underpinned and driven the work of TSIBA and its particular approach to education. Living with purpose, the discovery of our own unique purpose journey, and doing so for the collective is what we believe people are capable of and what makes us fully human - as committed and caring family, community and global citizens. To this theme TSIBA Founder and Board Chair, Ms Gia Whitehead holds insightful conversations with iconic individuals across the world. In discussion with Gia our guests share their perspectives and insights on living with purpose. The conversations are available on numerous platforms and through the purpose-lived link on the TSIBA website.
TSIBA GLOBAL
With consulting input from one of our international academic partners, ESMT Berlin, ESMT Business Masters Degree have enabled the launch of TSIBA Global (Global Learning Opportunities in Business and Leadership). Hosted by TSIBA, TSIBA Global provides an international academic experience to foreign students who envision themselves as future business leaders and entrepreneurs. This program also provides a unique opportunity to immerse visiting students in the rich culture and the local communities of Cape Town, South Africa. We also look forward to hosting the first TSIBA GLOBAL cohort from Audencia Business School (France) who are scheduled on Campus in Semester 2. An additional event to this initiative programme had TSIBA students connect with student counterparts from Lviv, Ukraine, to learn about resilience and the impact of war on global supply chains and to foster global empathy and awareness.
TSIBA EARTH (Environmental Awareness for the Rehabilitation and Transformation of Humanity)
Climate change and human impact on the natural environment are key areas of concern at TSIBA. This project promotes a harmonious living with the natural world through 'green' campus initiatives, clean-up campaigns and food security projects. In support of the broad aims of TSIBA Earth and in collaboration with Extinction Rebellion Cape Town, members of the TSIBA Community are invited to a no-charge public talk by Dr Nicholas Simpson from UCT's African Climate and Development Initiative, and a lead author of the Africa chapter, IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Report. The talk will take place on Campus in the evening of Thursday May 26th with tickets available on Quicket through the link : https://qkt.io/cbUlDU
CHE Virtual Site Visit and Accreditation of the HCBA and PG DipBA
The weeks leading up to the 29 March 2022 were a hive of activity as the Business School prepared for the annual Council on Higher Education virtual site visit. This was to re-accredit the TSIBA NQF-Level 5 Higher Certificate in Business Administration (HCBA) and the NQF-Level 8 Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration (PGBA).
Discussions with the CHE panel were successfully concluded with no material concerns raised.
Founders' Gift Capital Campaign
Providing access to purpose-lived, high-quality business education was inspired by the dreams of TSIBA Founders, current Chairperson Gia Whitehead, previous Chief Executive Officers Leigh Meinert and Adri Marais and (the late) Graham Lashbrooke. This work started in a modest blanket factory in Cape Town's Mowbray district with less than 10 students on campus in 2004 to a Pinelands campus with 400 students for eight years, and then in 2020 to our current Woodstock campus.
Fast Forward to 2022 and TSIBA has registered over 700 students! This remarkable growth in student numbers testify to the exponential growth in brand value and the social and economic that TSIBA has made in the lives of many. TSIBA Business School is well on its way of enrolling a 1000 students by 2025.
Of course growth in numbers and in value must be matched by a model of financial sustainability which will secure TSIBA for decades ahead. Towards this, TSIBA is determined to own its own campus and has launched the Founders' Gift campaign to realize the original founders dream of full campus ownership. As stated by Gia “When we have full ownership of our campus, the long-term sustainability for the critical work that TSIBA does in South Africa is massively enabled. This is a TSIBA 'game-changer' and one which once realised provides the platform from which TSIBA can continue to work to enable economic democracy for young South Africans in perpetuity.”
Interested investors in this campaign can contact TSIBA on info@tsiba.ac.za
Tsiba ignition academy
The Academy is proud to confirm the conclusion of a new three-year partnership agreement with Retail Credit Solution (RCS) Cards to grow, manage and deliver on their Enterprise & Supplier Development (ESD) initiative: LevelUp Business Inspirator.
This ongoing partnership builds on a shared vision to contribute to the challenges faced by South Africa and its emerging and small businesses sector. The Level-up Team team sets out to capacitate and inspire business development and innovation across a wide spectrum of businesses, ranging from Fintech to Education, Marketing to Professional Staff Recruitment. Those whose businesses fall into the financial services and retail sectors particularly enjoy the insights that LevelUp's adjacency to RCS facilitates.
With our Learner Management System now fully deployed, we are also embarking on strengthening our offerings in the eCommerce space and will be supporting TSIBA Business School in taking-to-market a short course offer in Community Tourism.
TSIBA's impact on the Western Cape over 18 years has been immense! TSIBA has produced 1265 graduates, including 438 Bachelor of Business of Administration (BBA) alumni and 827 who have graduated with a Higher Certificate in Business Administration (HCBA) and progressed further into the TSIBA BBA degree. Of the BBA Degree graduates over 90% continue to be engaged in employment or in postgraduate studies.
Re-imagining a more sustainable South Africa is not impossible - it (only) requires Vision and Will between trusting partners. Physicist, Fritjof Capra (1994), ascribes the resilience of nature to its diversity, sense of community and interconnectedness. The key point being that everything is connected.
It is the connectedness of TSIBA with our learning community and with our donors that has ensured the success of TSIBA since its inception till the present, and it is this same connectedness and support that will ensure our collective foreseeable future.
EVENTS
TSIBA Online Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration Information Session
Date: Thursday, May 19, 2022
Time: 18:00 to 19:00
REGISTER NOW
Music: Creative Portal to Entrepreneurship: A TSIBA and Henly Business School Collaboration
Date: 13 June 2022
Time: 18h00 - 20h00
The event will be streamed on TSIBA YouTube channel