The UCT Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) at the Graduate School of Business (GSB) has been operating for eight years since its inception in February 2001.
The focus of the Centre is organised around three distinct and mutually interrelated set of activities:
However, the core focus of the Centre is on the delivery of quality entrepreneurship education to all levels of society encompassing both post-graduates and school leavers. The philosophy is that for entrepreneurship education to be effective, it must be practical. Students, therefore, have meaningful interactions with entrepreneurs, are involved in actual entrepreneurial projects, work in multi-disciplinary project teams and are evaluated by entrepreneurs and investors as well as by academic staff. The courses delivered by the Centre are closely integrated with business creation and development in the local business and investment communities.
Why teach entrepreneurship? Entrepreneurship lies behind the development and start-up of SMMEs. It is a widely accepted phenomenon that SMMEs provide the majority of new jobs worldwide and are vital to the continuing growth and success of any economy. In South Africa, SMME development is of critical importance as it helps to create jobs thereby reducing unemployment and contributing significantly towards the reduction of abnormally high levels of crime.
Entrepreneurs constantly revolutionise our economy and help make a better life for all those participating. In fact, entrepreneurship is the key driver and has become more important in recent years. Michael S. Malone, in a Wall Street journal article titled “The next American frontier” put it best.
Half of all new college graduates now believe that self-employment is more secure than a full-time job. Today, 80% of all colleges and universities in the US now offer courses on entrepreneurship…it waits out there for each of us. Being good entrepreneurs, its time to look ahead, develop a good plan and bet everything on ourselves”.
The CIE has been particularly successful in this regard in that in 2006 and 2008 the Financial Mail Report showed that entrepreneurship at the UCT Business School as again one of the three subjects in which it was rated first against all other Institutions. The CIE is now regarded as the most effective institution in entrepreneurship in South Africa and is becoming increasingly important as one of the main authorities of SMME development in the country.
The Centre has been made possible through the efforts and collaboration of a number of South African and International organisations that have generously donated funds, time and expertise to the development and continued success of the UCT Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Download The 2008 GEM Report
