OPTIMUS students benefitted from the advice and experience of prominent industry leaders during a recent event organised by the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. At the event, the second-year OPTIMUS students received their certificates for completing the programme successful.
The primary objective of the OPTIMUS programme is to support the top undergraduate academic achievers in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences on their academic journey to ensure sustained and distinctive achievement while at SU and after graduation.
On 3 October 2022, the programme concluded its activities with an “Engagement with a leader” evening at Middelvlei, where prominent industry leaders shared their life stories with the group of OPTIMUS participants.
Students were inspired by the life stories of Prof Jonathan Jansen, Distinguished Professor of Education policy studies at SU and President of the South African Academy of Science and of the South African Institute of Race Relations; Heleen Mills, Director of Marketing for a non-profit organization in Kenya and a strategic digitally minded marketer, freelance consultant, and coach; Prof Renata Schoeman, a general psychiatrist in private practice and associate professor in Leadership at USB and Josh Romisher, the CEO of SU Launchlab and an entrepreneur.
Advice included that the true mark of an educated person is the ability to read widely and deeply outside of one’s discipline; that life is like a jungle gym, not a ladder, with many ways of getting to the top; that one can do difficult things; that a fulfilling career as well as filling life with things that are joyful, useful or beautiful are important; travel as much as possible; one does not need to follow the “career script” and that neither one’s career nor one’s life is linear.
- Photos by Ignatius Dreyer.
- Main photo: OPTIMUS students and the speakers at a function at Middelvlei, where students who completed the programme successfully, received certificates.
- Photo below (f.l.t.r.): The speakers at the Middelvlei event were Mr Josh Romisher; Dr Sharon Malan (organiser); Prof Renata Schoeman; Ms Heleen Mills; Prof Ronel du Preez-Snyman (Vice-Dean: Learning and Teaching); and Prof Jonathan Jansen.
