TSIBA lays roots for the future to kick-start Arbor Week
Author: TSIBA Business School
“The true meaning of life is to plant a tree under whose shade you do not expect to sit.” (Scottish rugby player, Nelson Henderson)
It’s the first day of Arbor Week and Spring Day, which has special significance for TSIBA Business School. On Spring day of 2022 TSIBA staff and students participated in a tree planting ceremony by planting a Wild Olive tree (Olea europaea subsp. africana), in celebration of TSIBA’s newly purchased campus at 51 Old Mill Road, Ndabeni, Cape Town.
The Wild Olive, an indigenous tree to South Africa, according to TSIBA’s Executive of Sustainability, Graham Moore, ‘is a tolerant, evergreen tree, and one that once established is virtually indestructible - much like TSIBA!’ Hence, the planting of this tree aligns with TSIBA’s history and values at multiple levels. Indigenous trees are resilient, adaptable, and thrives in symbiotic relationships with natural vegetation and are imbued with intelligent design that’s been refined over billions of years. In fact, in an increasingly fragile human world, nature has withstood natural disasters, climate change and human onslaught time and time again.
And so is TSIBA connected with its social context! As a higher education institution that started its journey from humble beginnings in a blanket factory at Mowbray with 80 students, its resilience and growing brand equity has facilitated its migration to the vibrant TSIBA House with over 700 students currently. At a fundamental level the
value of the business school lies in its deep historical and symbiotic roots that draws on the wisdom, inspiration and sustainability inherent in its connections to a diverse and resilient ecosystem of donors, learners, faculty and advisors.
With an eighteen-years track record of successfully delivering high quality, business education, and in the same way that the tree will provide shade, a habitat, and medicinal value to many living species, so too will TSIBA continue to serve its learning communities through the sustenance of education.
The tree planting ceremony thus has deep symbolic value for TSIBA. Although the migration to the new campus will only take place in mid-2023, the laying down of roots reflects two key principles: TSIBA’s hope in the future; as well as its embarking on a new growth path with the potential branching out into new knowledge opportunities.
Finally, in the spirit of such profound wisdom from the words of Henderson, the tree and the new campus share intertwined destinies. The tree will grow and extend its canopy of shade, and the new campus will educate, develop and nurture. Both will bear testament that we exist, symbiotically, to make the world a better place for generations to come.
