GSB&L Hosts Winter School

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Local Economic Development (LED) practitioners and stakeholders from the private, public and civil sectors heard about best practices to enhance LED during the Regional and Local Economic Development Initiative Winter School hosted by the Graduate School of Business and Leadership (GSB&L).

The Winter School Programme – targeting existing LED practitioners based within key LED institutions in KwaZulu-Natal at provincial, district and local level in government, business and civil society - creates a platform for robust engagement with national and international industry experts, networking, sharing ideas and exploring research collaboration, thus making a difference in the economy of KwaZulu-Natal and changing people’s lives.

Classes offered at the Winter School included:

•   The 1st annual LED Academy: Systemic Envisioning and Implementation for Territorial Development facilitated by GSB&L academic, Dr Shamim Bodhanya. It was aimed at engaging high profile participants in territorial development, including regional and local economic development.

•   Business Retention and Expansion facilitated by Ms Claire Patterson, who is experienced in public participation and facilitation and has strong research, analytical and report writing skills.

•   Enabling Mechanisms in LED delivered by the RLEDI team and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

•   Entrepreneurship Master Class facilitated by Professor John F Kennedy and Mr Campbell Mayer.

Kennedy said the class was part of MIT’s mission to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that would best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

‘We are trying to look at entrepreneurship in South Africa. Hence we hope to come out of this two day class with themes and models to enhance entrepreneurship in KwaZulu-Natal by using the fabric we use at MIT,’ he said.

Speaking from a student’s perspective, Mr Mfanelo Ndlovu said the classes were informative and had given him new knowledge for his entrepreneurial pursuits.

‘I am glad I attended because I have gained valuable insights on local economic development which will help me in the future. Having the industry experts engage with us about our ideas was great because it has shown me what can work and what won’t so I can refine my ideas as a first step to unlocking my potential,’ said Ndlovu.

-          Thandiwe Jumo