11 Aug 2015

Students from Kelley School of business at the University of Indiana will this week interact with four Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) clients as part of their MBA qualification requirement.

Speaking during the Global Business Social Enterprise (GLOBASE) Botswana meeting, LEA chief executive officer Dr Tebogo Matome, said MBA final year students would interact with Kgositau Engineering, Forensic and Allied Services, Kinder-World Pre-School and Key I-Solutions.

He said the students’ interaction with these SMMEs would small entrepreneurs to move their businesses forward.

Dr Matome noted that MBA students would get to experience a practical appreciation of SMME operations and work with them in identifying solutions to some of the challenges that impeded prosperity within these enterprises.

He stressed that the previous beneficiaries had used the knowledge imparted to them to improve their businesses.

He said this was the  last batch of clients to be assisted as per the arrangement between the two parties. 

“I hope that you will consider extending this relationship as it has benefited the Kelly School of Business and its students, as well as the LEA and its clients,” he said.

Professor Phillip Powell of Indiana University said their MBA programme was ranked number one in the United States.

“This programme has inspired a revolution in the way that we teach,” he said.

Professor Powell said the programme had a larger impact in Botswana as well as in the United States.

He noted that over the past 19 years of his teaching experience, he had run three different graduate programmes and so far the GLOBASE programme appeared to be the most powerful learning experience.

Professor Powell said the relationship of LEA and Kelley school extended to unlock the vibrancy of Botswana private sector, stating that LEA sought some more vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem that the country was trying to unlock.

He stressed that through this programme, they wanted to open the eyes of NBA students to a Sub Saharan Africa that was open for business.

“This programme is part of larger message that if you want to put yourself where the action is, come to Africa and start in Botswana,” he said.

He added that students came to Botswana with open minds to new perspective to help clients fulfil their self-defined potential.

Professor Powell noted that Botswana taught how to be better executives as well as how to do business better in the United States.

LEA partnership with Kelley School started in 2013 through introduction by the Institute of Development Management (IDM) and the GLOBASE programme for Botswana was initiated.

 

 Since its inception, the programme benefited 19 LEA assisted SMMEs including this week’s beneficiaries. ENDS