How have you found the MCom in Development Finance programme so far?
Look, it's been an exceptional journey that we've been on. Definitely a challenging, fast-paced, action-packed course. And very rewarding at the end of the day. I’ve learnt a lot, and not coming from a finance-centric environment, it's been a little bit of a challenge. But the course provides good content for people that are outside of the finance scope. So overall, it’s been quite a steep learning curve!
What is it that you do, and what made you pursue an MCom in Development Finance?
I work for a sectional title developer, probably one of the biggest in South Africa. It is listed on the JSE. So coming to this course, I decided to really unpack the challenges that we see in terms of infrastructure delivery at a higher level than what we do. From our perspective, we see the challenges of getting our developments off the ground in terms of our pipeline, and the barriers to infrastructure development from government and municipalities. That's what sparked my interest to take my studies a little bit further. And specifically around development finance.
What made you decide on the GSB?
Look, I'm a UCT alumnus, so I know what the university is about and what the values are and that it’s rated as one of the top universities in the world. So the GSB was definitely always on the bucket list for me.
And how have you found it has the GSB lived up to its reputation?
Definitely. I mean, the support that you get from the programme administrators and the organisation as a whole is superb. Their systems are good, their facilities are great. And the lecturers are really fantastic.
Any highlights of the first semester for you?
Meeting people and networking with a significant amount of diversity – people from different origins and places all over the world. So that's been a great perspective, meeting people that are outside of my business scope number one, and culture number two.
What do you plan to do with what you've learned?
I'm hoping to try and leverage what I've learned in negotiating deals specifically with development banks, and with municipalities locally, in terms of getting our projects off the ground in a more sustainable manner. Get the various different stakeholders in the environment to actually move forward. You should be implementing it as you go along, so definitely some new tips and tricks from a finance perspective.
What advice would you give to other students who are considering studying in income?
People always say do hard things, and it'll be rewarding. So this kind of sums up the experience that I've had on this course: it's challenging but extremely rewarding at the same time. It definitely opens your mind, and it'll really leave you thinking that you can do better.
