Women's Empowerment Course: Entrepreneurship and Financial Literacy
The Center for African Studies together with the Center for Women Gender and Global Leadership and the Center for Financial Excellence in association with the United Nations Development Programme Africa Bureau is offering a 3-week summer non-credit course Women's Empowerment: Entrepreneurship and Financial Literacy for graduate students, practitioners, and budding entrepreneurs in Summer 2022.
Course Dates: July 11 – 29, 2022
Course Type: Graduate, Non-credit, Asynchronous with Discussions on Tuesdays
Course Cost: Free
Course Overview
The New Normal has led to a disruptive and fast-changing business environment, more of us than ever will experience the challenge of a competitive workplace with fewer opportunities for employment. Embracing the skills of entrepreneurship can enable the launch of successful and viable new business ventures.
This course will provide insights on how to seize opportunities amid challenges with the specific focus on the unique characteristics of doing business in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The course spans over 3 weeks with the aim of equipping graduate students, practitioners, and budding entrepreneurs on how to do Business in Africa. Delegates will be exposed to a valuable networking experience and pracademic approach which consists of best practice methodologies and industry experts on how to find the right opportunities on the continent and translate these into tangible businesses.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, you will:
- Develop an understanding of the entrepreneurial opportunity within the Sub -Saharan Africa context.
- Identify the elements of women entrepreneurship.
- Appraise the basic features linked to the firm’s business activity.
- Analyze and critique the major theories explaining the economic forces at work in the modern economy, with a view to making constructive use of economic and finance information in operational and strategic decision-making.
- Evaluate the Fundamental Concepts and Tools of Business Finance.
- Develop winning business plans.
Course Format
Students will use preparatory materials such as videos and readings to work through on their own. Followed by synchronous Zoom sessions on Tuesdays with networking, Q&A, reviews of case studies, and collaborative exercises.
Each week comprises of:
- Preparatory readings
- Guest speaker recordings
- A 3-hour Live Session
- Speed networking
About the Course Facilitator
Dr. Renee Horne
Chairperson, South African Supplier Diversity Council (SASDC)
With more than twenty years’ experience as an award-winning political journalist, war correspondent, editor, political economist and avid entrepreneur, Dr. Renee Horne has been acknowledged by government, business and academics as an expert political economist and journalist on Sub Saharan Africa and the Middle East. Internationally, Dr. Horne has advised governments, media, and business on the political and economic policy of South Africa, Iraq, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, and Uganda. She has worked extensively in regions and countries in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, the United States and Brazil. Dr. Horne has worked with institutions such as Transparency International, Delta Economics, Royal Africa Society, Exclusive Analysis, Royal United Services Institute, BBC, SKY, ITV, SABC and the World Entrepreneur Society. During this period, she interviewed politicians and high-profile personalities such as South African President, Nelson Mandela, former Palestinian National Authority (PNA) President, Yasser Arafat and former Israeli Prime Minister, Shimon Peres.
Dr. Horne has been a facilitator, lecturer and guest speaker on Political Economy and International Relations in Africa at numerous institutions such as London School of Economics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) - University of London, the University of Johannesburg, John Hopkins University, and the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) -Washington DC. Passionate about enterprise and skills development, she was also the Head of the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)- University of Pretoria Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Unit. Dr. Renee Horne is currently the Chairperson of the South African Supplier Diversity Council (SASDC), an organization that assists in increasing linkages between multinationals and SMEs on the African continent. She is also the creator and Director of the International Leadership Executive Development Programme (ILED) at the SASDC. Dr. Horne is a member of the Institute of Directors in Southern Africa and the Wits Business School- University of Witwatersrand, Director of International Programmes. She has been recently appointed as the Non-Executive Director of the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
Dr. Horne holds five degrees, three degrees (BA – Law, Hons, MA) from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and two degrees (MSc and PhD) from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Her areas of interest are Opportunities and Investments in Africa, BRICS economies, Macroeconomic Policy, and Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment.