Accounting Student Wins First Prize in Essay Competition

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UKZN BCom Accounting third year student, Mr Steffen Wies, won first prize in the SAICA Student Leadership Summit essay competition.

Wies’s colleagues, Mr Matthew Nzimande and Mr Julian Vorster, were placed among the top 30 entrants.

As reward for their achievement, the trio were invited to spend a weekend with others in the Top 30 at the Standard Bank Global Leadership Centre in Sandton where they met students from other universities as well as top executives from leading South African companies including Standard Bank, Edcon and Deloitte. They networked with business leaders and took part in workshops to develop their leadership skills.

Students were tasked with developing a business plan to present to investors, giving them an opportunity to build on skills they had developed in the workshop sessions. All groups presented high-quality presentations, impressing the adjudicators with their ability to develop well-structured and sound business ideas.

According to Wies, the summit surpassed all his expectations, providing him with an opportunity to develop important ‘soft skills’ required by chartered accountants as well as allowing him to forge connections with current and future leaders in the profession.

In the competition entrants were required to submit an essay based on one of three topics. The first topic dealt with advising young people on the responsible use of smart phones and other gadgets, the second required entrants to discuss the benefits of media freedom in South Africa, while the third topic asked students to consider factors driving teenage pregnancy and possible solutions to decrease the number of learner pregnancies.

Wies chose the second topic, while Vorster and Nzimande both focused on the third.

A total of 356 essays were received by SAICA this year which is the largest number in the history of the competition.

Wies was announced as the winner at a prize-giving function held during the weekend in Sandton and received a R6 000 cash prize and an iPad.

 UKZNdaba Online