The Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, Professor Bhekisipho Twala recently hosted the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Day online via Microsoft Teams.
This event was a strategic and coordinated drive under the leadership of Prof Twala to enhance innovation and entrepreneurship in the University whilst enforcing a culture of adapting and adjusting to a dynamic world. He is not only passionate about developing programmes but also students.
Prof Twala is also a Professor in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science at DUT. He came to DUT after spending two years as the Director of the School of Engineering (University of South Africa). He also held several prestigious positions at the University of Johannesburg, including Director of the Institute for Intelligent Systems and Head of its Electrical and Electronic Engineering department. He was recently inaugurated as a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) amongst 43 of the country’s top scholars and scientists.
The facilitator of the event was DUT’s Ms Fathima Razack. In his opening remarks Prof Sudesh Rathilal, Deputy Dean, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at DUT said the faculty was passionate about research and innovation.
“The faculty is passionate about research and innovation, and we have seen an exponential increase in the number of individual and postgraduate research projects that are highly impactful. Prof Twala noted that we need to take this research into the next step. The faculty consists of 10 academic departments. We have architecture, chemical engineering, civil engineering and geomatics, civil engineering, and in Pietermaritzburg, construction management and quantity surveying, electrical power engineering, electronic and computer engineering. industrial engineering, mechanical engineering and town and regional planning and then we have a Research Centre as well, which is the Urban Futures Centre. All of these departments run programmes from the diploma level up until the doctoral levels,” said Prof Rathilal.
Prof Rathilal added that their intention is to instil entrepreneurship and innovation in all their undergraduate and the postgraduate programmes. He reiterated that due to the huge unemployment rate and job insecurity in South Africa, they are preparing learners to be self-sustaining and become employers rather than only employees.
Prof Twala began his presentation by first acknowledging all DUT students and staff and DUT’s internal and external stakeholders in industrial partners just for making things happen. He thanked the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Engagement, Prof Sibusiso Moyo whose portfolio accommodates entrepreneurship and innovation.
“We are all entrepreneurship educators. The world needs us more than ever before, and we can do better. But the question is, how can we up our game in order to do things, right? Now we’ve seen all the technology companies doing well. Amazon, Google, Facebook and it looks amazing. Netflix as well and as a result the demand for entrepreneurship is blowing up. Now people realise that hey, I can be the next, Netflix guy. I could be the next Amazon guy. I could be the next Google and Microsoft guy. It shows that people are beginning to take it a bit more serious,” said Prof Twala.
He also shared some of the exciting projects his Faculty is involved in to help the students’ lives and the society at large.
Razack thanked Prof Twala for his informative presentation agreeing with him that it is better to teach a man to fish so he will be able to eat for his life rather than giving him a fish that he will eat for one day.
The Faculty also showcased some of the amazing innovative projects completed by their architecture students. This item was facilitated by Dr Timothy Obaje, Acting Academic Development Practitioner at DUT Midlands.
“The Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment is proud to present some of the laser cutting projects undertaken by the architectural students within the Faculty. The videos that would be played showcase some of the amazing designs and innovations from our own very talented students and the faculty here at DUT,” said Dr Obaje.
The guest speaker was Dr Motshedisi Mathibe, Lecturer at the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science. Her presentation was titled: Light at the end of a tunnel-role of entrepreneurship in a post COVID-19 world.
She spoke about how entrepreneurship is the main contributor to the job creation and economy of the country. Dr Mathibe revealed that in South Africa, about 30% of the economy lies in the township economy and informal sector. She listed some of the challenges facing entrepreneurship such as the current recession, the red tape and bureaucracy, large firm dominance, dual economy, infrastructure and the education system. She also focused on the impact of COVID-19 and how women were the main victims, mostly losing their jobs and businesses.
“It is time to work together as students, academics, institutions, both private public sector towards finding innovative solutions that support and promote entrepreneurship post COVID-19. DUT being ranked amongst the top 100 universities in Africa, is in a great position in ushering these innovations. It is not over yet. There is the light at the end of the tunnel, and that light is entrepreneurship,” added Dr Mathibe.
Delivering the vote of thanks was Ms Londeka Mnikathi, Civil Engineering student at DUT, who thanked the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment under the leadership of Prof Twala for a well-planned event. Mnikathi expressed her gratitude to Dr Mathibe for a thought-provoking presentation and all those who made the event a huge success. The event was ably organised by Ms Thembeka Ntuli-Mpapama, Branding and Marketing strategist, Ms Fathima Razack (Quality Promotion Officer), Dr Rosheena Jeawon, Academic Development Practitioner (Acting) and Dr Timothy Obaje ,(Academic Development Practitioner Acting) with the support from Nalandren Michael Patchiappen from the IT department .
Pictured: Prof Bhekisipho Twala
Simangele Zuma
