Opportunity Issue 88 - Sept-Oct 2018

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Funding the future A call to invest in the University of Venda PROFILE Many South African universities are considered among the best in the world. However, there are also many issues that are hidden below the surface that have come to the fore in recent years with massive protests at most universities. Most of these protests have been around funding for students who cannot afford university fees. In order to find out more about the funding that universities require and how these crucial entities within our society go about creating their own finance, we sat down with the Chief Executive Officer of Univen Innovative Group Company (UIGC), Dr John Mudau. UIGC is 100% owned by the University of Venda with the sole purpose of providing the university with funding. The University of Venda is the only shareholder within the UIGC. Mudau’s main focus as CEO is to ensure that the company is financially sustainable and achieves its mandate, as handed down by the university. “We have to generate enough revenue which we can then hand over to the university so that they can use to support their main program, especially the core business of the university, which is teaching, learning and community engagements,” says Mudau. The task is more complicated than it sounds. Having been CEO for just over four years, Mudau is acutely aware of the challenges that UIGC faces. ”I think the biggest challenge at this stage is that we are not in a position to provide enough money to the university, for a number of reasons why that is the case. Number one is because the company is still pretty new; we only started in 2010. “The second challenge is that as a company we are in the process of trying to make sure that we raise enough revenue. We have established entities, which are subsidiaries of the company. We have a subsidiary called UIGC Travel, which is a travel agency that provides a one-stop facility for booking travel arrangements and accommodations. We also have a company that deals with security, providing guards, and we have an entity that deals with landscaping, cleaning services and gardening. We also have an entity that deals with commercial farming, which is called the UIGC Barter Farm, producing macadamia nuts, bananas, avocados. Lastly, we have a division that deals with training,” explains Mudau. While these new, smaller companies have been a welcome addition to the UIGC, they were created for a longer term goal; it would be naive to start expecting financial returns right away. On the contrary, these companies still need support from the UIGC. However, in the long term, Mudau is confident that these companies will bring their own rewards. Mudau also makes it very clear that, as a commercial entity, UIGC would love to offer alumni from the University of Venda the opportunity to invest in their business. However, he believes they have yet to get their message out there in a strong enough way. Due to the fact that universities in South Africa are public enterprises, they are not allowed to do fundraising exercises; 36 | www.opportunityonline.co.za
however, Mudau believes that this innovation where the university is the sole shareholder in an organisation is the way to go. All the major universities within South Africa have a private entity and it helps the universities a lot with regards to funding. “When you have a vehicle like this it becomes very easy for a university to get into a commercial transaction without compromising the university's integrity of the university and without changing its focus: the university cannot be dealing with what is happening in the market; they are interested in research, teaching and of course learning, correctly so. If you leave them to focus on these business areas they will not do well. That is where special-purpose commercial entities such as UIGC come into their own,” says Mudau. The long-term vision that Mudau has put in place for UIGC looks positive. He has the goals he’d like to achieve, and should these goals be achieved it will have a far-reaching effect on those who cannot afford university fees. “One very critical commitment we have made to the university is that in the next three years we want to provide enough money to the university to fund 50% of the students enrolled there, both in terms of tuition and learnership, and we made this commitment very mindful of the landscape of our economy today, but we believe that once we stabilise our smaller entities, which will be in the next 18 months, we will start getting returns that will assist us in funding students of the University of Venda. In our view this is going to promote access to quality higher education, and this is going to be done regardless of students' background. “We don’t want to look at the income of those we are funding; over the next three years we just want to fund 50% of the students coming into the University of Venda, regardless of their background. “Furthermore, over the next five years the UIGC would also like to provide the finance for the university to provide on-campus accommodation for at least 5 000 students,” says Mudau. The majority of students at the University of Venda are from poor households. Government has already decided that households of that earn less than R 300 000 qualify for free education, but the middle of the range still exists, namely those households that earn perhaps R 350 000 per annum but still can’t afford to send their child to university, and definitely not a second child. Furthermore, saysd Mudau, not even households that earn R 500 000 per annum are likely to be able to afford the fees. Perhaps they can for one child, but definitely not two; this is where the UIGC wants to direct its funds. In closing, Mudau called on the private sector to open their doors. It's not about asking for donations: if companies can “come and own 1%, 2% or 3% of our massive organisation, we can find the ways to fund that small percentage, but then we are in the private sector which will allow us to use our expertise to further fund the students at the University of Venda,” concludes Mudau. PROFILE www.opportunityonline.co.za | 37
Page 1 and 2: www.opportunityonline.co.za Explori
Page 3 and 4: . . . In One Year Are You going to
Page 5 and 6: CONTENTS 4 What the fourth industri
Page 7 and 8: how the introduction of Uber and Ta
Page 10 and 11: ECONOMY Seeking the turning point S
Page 12 and 13: Building bridges between communitie
Page 14 and 15: WATER Irrigate the future To create
Page 16 and 17: A shining success in construction N
Page 18: CONSTRUCTION Construction slows dow
Page 21 and 22: MINING The 2018 financial year prov
Page 24 and 25: INTERNATIONAL TRADE Networking with
Page 26 and 27: INFRASTRUCTURE Lowering barriers to
Page 28 and 29: SKILLS Sourcing artisanal skills Ho
Page 30 and 31: The crucial role of mentorship PPS
Page 32 and 33: CHINA-AFRICA Maximising African age
Page 34 and 35: Investment conversations Championin
Page 36 and 37: PROFILE The iLembe Vineyards projec
Page 40 and 41: DIVERSITY STRATEGY Embracing true v
Page 42 and 43: NATIONAL INVESTMENT DRIVE Funding s
Page 44: Conference & Exhibition: 13-15 Nove

Opportunity Issue 88 - Sept-Oct 2018

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