Entrepreneurship is growing within South Africa’s higher education spaces, from fresh ideas, innovations, to creative ventures set to contribute and stimulate the socio-economic growth in the region.
These ideas have been met by support from various industry experts, funding initiatives, and institutions transforming into innovative and entrepreneurial hubs that can spearhead socio-economic development.
This has been the culture around South African universities such as the University of the Western Cape (UWC),which in collaboration with WearSA, launched a retail clothing store – the first design and entrepreneurship incubator store of its kind in South Africa.
Recently we saw one of SA’s largest venture capital funds, the SA SME Fund, introducing students to entrepreneurial spaces, launching the first fund in Africa that commercialises ideas from tertiary institutions and gives access to funding and skills to CUT to promote entrepreneurs.
Today, we see the launch of the DUT retail leadership chair. This is a collaboration between the Durban University of Technology (DUT) and the Wholesale and Retail Sector Education and Training Authority (W&RSETA).
This initiative is also set to “serve as a critical conduit between industry and the university, in terms of constructive engagements, best practice in the industry both locally and internationally, in curriculum relevance and work integrated learning.”
