UniZulu to launch rural entrepreneurial business centre

THE University of Zululand will open a rural entrepreneurial business centre next year.

The centre, which is expected to be fully operational by mid-2018, was announced at the MBALI Entrepreneurial Symposium last week.

It will allow academics and senior students to mentor and grow local businesses.

Speaking at the symposium, Associate Professor Irrshad Kaseeram, Deputy Dean of the Research and Internationalisation Department at Unizulu said: ‘The vision for this centre and the entrepreneurship ecosystem is to create a conducive environment that facilitates the emergence of local entrepreneurs and links them to value chains in a sustainable fashion.

‘We see public, private, public and tertiary institution partnerships as being critical in establishing and successfully managing this entrepreneurship ecosystem.’

Kaseeram said the university is perfectly positioned to play a larger role in development within the region.

Professor Dev Tewari, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Commerce, Administration and Law, said through the centre, the university intends to create an Agri Brand for the Zululand region, as well as setting up a production centre on campus in the longer term.

‘This would facilitate the sale of produce from subsistence farmers. The produce would be packaged, branded and sold to retailers,’ Tewari said.

ALSO READ: Entrepreneurship symposium hosted by Unizulu

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