UWC 360 Issue 6-Draft 7 9/18/13 8:21 AM Page 6 C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY CMY
K
THREE-SIXT-E | ALUMNI E-NEWSLETTER | ISSUE 6/SEPTEMBER 2013
Great Golf Day again
Making IT happen In 2002, having just obtained his master's in information systems management from UWC, Thando Mjebeza was flabbergasted when he realised that there were few black-owned firms in the SAP IT consulting sector. “I thought, this can’t be difficult,” Mjebeza recalls. So, to prove the point, two years later he started Zimele Technologies, an information communication technology consulting company specialising in SAP systems implementation. Based in Cape Town, the company now employs between 50 and 60 people. “It’s all about the will,” says Mjebeza, who also obtained his BCom Honours in Management, BCom Honours in Information Systems and an HDE at UWC. “If you tell yourself that you will do something, and put hard work into it, it will happen. The only thing that is holding us back is ourselves.” Mjebeza believes that the information technology (IT) sector is essential for economic growth. “Our agricultural sector, for instance, is not as productive as it should be because there is not enough IT being utilised to support it. Countries that have less land than us are yielding the same or even better results because they are more technologically sophisticated.” When Zimele was started, it partnered with UWC and the City of Cape Town to run a leadership programme aimed at empowering youth by equipping them with consulting and IT skills. Still committed to youth empowerment, Thando personally sponsors the education of two or three school learners every year.
PAGE SIX
Composite
First Prize winners of the 2013 UWC Johannesburg Golf Day, Warwick Head and Colin Smith, alongside UWC Pro Vice-Chancellor, Patricia Lawrence.
Golf courses are ideal places for having fun, initiating relationships and possibly striking some business deals, and the Randpark Golf Club’s Firethorn Course in Johannesburg was no different on 23 July. Scores of UWC alumni reconnected with their alma mater and old classmates on a mild winter’s day at the ninth annual UWC Johannesburg Golf Day. Seventy-six players took part in a Better Ball Stableford format of the game. The winners were Warwick Head and Colin Smith, while Owen Baker and Dave Skews took home second prize. Mandla Mbukwane and Bashkar Latchman came third. UWC's Vice-Chancellor and Rector, Professor Brian O’Connell, introduced the annual Golf Day to participants and spoke about its importance to the University’s overall development. The event, which was arranged by the Department for Institutional Advancement (IA), is aimed at promoting relationships between UWC graduates and the institution in support of the University’s Development Fund. The Development Fund disburses bursaries to needy and deserving students. Patricia Lawrence, Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Department for Institutional Advancement, informed participants about UWC's fundraising projects, among which were the upgrade of the Sports Centre, the completion of construction of the new Chemical Sciences building, and the first
ever alumni reunion for the classes of the 1960s and 1970s, scheduled to take place in October. Lawrence thanked the companies that sponsored watering holes at the event, including ABSA Corporate, Budget Car and Van Rental, Ceragon South Africa, Multichoice DStv, Nampak Recycling, New Generation Management Consulting, PPS Insurance for Professionals, SBV Services and Stanlib. Andre de Wet sponsored wine which was auctioned and bought at R5 000 by alumnus Angelo Petersen, Group General Manager of Corporate Services at Capespan Group.