A message from USB Alumni and Stakeholder Relations

Collaboration, partnerships, engagement and value creation – these are core to the USB Alumni Association’s strategy and the activities flowing from this. Overall, we focus on forming connections between our alumni and prospective students, current students, corporates and USB. These connections are a key driver of our success, as shown by what we have achieved during the first six months of the year:

• Welcoming our new chairpersons: In March 2019, the USB Alumni Association’s Executive Committee gathered for its annual meeting. The Association elected Ms Elyssa Spreeth, chairperson of the Mpumalanga chapter, to take over from long-standing chairperson, Mr Isa Omagu who relocated to Ghana. We also welcome the following chairpersons: Mr Mark Phillips (Western Cape), Mr Simon Meyer (Eastern Cape), Ms Shayo Imologome (West Africa) and Ms Emma Rono (East Africa). The Association relies on our chairpersons to help build networks of alumni in their respective chapters and regions.
• Hosting the USB Top Achievers event: In April, the USB Alumni Association hosted this event at the Lanzerac Hotel in Stellenbosch to acknowledge the top-performing students who graduated in December 2018 or at the start of 2019. Out of 700 USB graduates, 20 new alumni received awards for their academic achievements. Ten PhD degrees were also awarded. The top achievers received trophies, certificates and sponsored prizes. We once again thank our corporate partners who added value to this event through their generous sponsorship of the prizes.
• Offering a wide range of alumni events: The Alumni Association collaborated with COMENSA to host a successful Coaching Masterclass presented by Prof Tatiana Bachkirova, Director of the International Centre for Coaching and Mentoring Studies at Oxford Brookes University. Collaborative events in the SADC region continued with alumni in Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland joining the popular knowledge-sharing events of USB Executive Development (USB-ED), the Careers Consulting Club and Institute for Futures Research events. Alumni Business Dialogue events in chapters were hosted with high-level industry speakers, focusing on political analyses of the recent South African election in particular. These events took place in Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Botswana, Namibia and the United Arab Emirates. The latter was the first USB alumni chapter event ever in Dubai. Alumni were also invited to participate in a webinar on e-commerce, hosted by the UK chairperson. We thank the chapter committees for their initiative and support.
• Participating in AABS conference: In June, USB hosted the Association of African Business Schools’ Connect 2019 conference. The USB Alumni Manager facilitated the panel, themed Converging views of business schools: Students and alumni. The panellists consisted of two USB MBA alumni, one alumnus from Groupe IAM in Senegal and one alumnus from Lagos Business School in Nigeria. The panel deliberated on, among others: What is expected of a business school graduate in the light of the demands imposed on business by the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

What does the future hold?

USB has embarked on the development of a new business strategy, and the Alumni Association looks forward to align its strategy accordingly. In September, USB will host the EQUIS accreditation panel where we will certainly highlight our alumni achievements. More importantly, our alumni will be playing a key support role during the discussions and networking events while the EQUIS team is on campus. Over the next four months, the Alumni Chapters are planning a series of Alumni Business Dialogue networking events in Western and Eastern Cape, KZN, Gauteng, East and West Africa, Botswana and Namibia. The annual USB Business Breakfasts are scheduled for Cape Town on 4 October and Gauteng on 6 September. The Alumnus of the Year will be announced at the Kgalema Motlanthe Leadership Lecture Series gala event in October this year.

Best wishes
Christélle Cronjé
Manager: Alumni and Stakeholder Relations