The University of Zululand Business Management head, Doctor Makhosazana Faith Vezi-Magigaba has been unanimously elected by all 26 universities as the Deputy Chairperson of the national Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Communities of Practice (CoP) for Entrepreneurship Research. EDHE is a unit under Universities South Africa (USAf).

The event was centred on encouraging entrepreneurship against all odds, which is the EDHE theme of the year. EDHE was established at the end of 2016 from within the University Education Branch of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET).

In August 2019 Dr Vezi-Magigaba was a dedicated senior lecturer with an unmatched passion for entrepreneurship. Her strides to instil the culture of social entrepreneurship in students landed her an opportunity to teach Social Entrepreneurship for five months at the Appalachian State University (ASU) in the United States of America while strengthening the ENACTUS team that she helped to establish in 2018 at the Appalachian State University. She was headhunted by ASU delegates during their visit to UNIZULU in 2017.

Dr Vezi-Magigaba will serve as the EDHE deputy chair for a period of three years. Unloading what she envisions for this position, “As an individual I will grow in the space entrepreneurship, there is a lot of work that comes with the position especially the research part. One of the important area of research is how do universities train students to become entrepreneurs and how can universities infuse entrepreneurship into the curricula?  As universities we need to produce meaningful research output that will influence the policy makers and the government to invest resources to institutions of higher learning so that they can easily change the status quo of entrepreneurship in the country. This position also requires us to assist universities to produce entrepreneurship research that will have an impact in the communities.” She said.

According to Dr Vezi-Magigaba the university will be well represented on issues of entrepreneurship, this will also create a platform for the universities to become entrepreneurial. She also added that she is looking forward to make an impact on student entrepreneurship. “UNIZULU is on its way to make indelible footprints in the space of entrepreneurship.”

The newly elected deputy chairperson also thanked UNIZULU for the continued support.