NMMU Business School MBA Gala Dinner 2012

Port Elizabeth, 2 November 2012 – NMMU Business School hosted a MBA Gala dinner on Friday 2 November 2012 to celebrate and honour the top student achievers and the alumnus of the year. The event was attended by the Graduate School faculty, the existing MBA student body, alumni and industry stakeholders.

The keynote address for the evening was presented by Business School Director Professor Steve Burgess who engaged with guests on how to maintain an optimistic approach to survive the recession.

NMMU Business School honoured the following achievers:

ALUMNI OF THE YEAR – MICHAEL MCNAUGHTON

Michael McNaughton is the Managing Director for the Kelston Motor Group. He obtained his MBA at the NMMU Business School in 2002 and has lectured in the field of marketing and sales and still serves as an external examiner and moderator.

In November 2009 he received the Diamond Pin Award in Germany from VWAG, recipients from over 200 countries are nominated for this prestigious award. Michael McNaughton was the only South African nominee and went on to win this award based on achievements in sales, profitability and service. The Kelston Motor Group comprises 9 Franchised and non-franchised dealerships, and employs over 350 people. The group sells between 3500-4000 cars per year as well as providing excellent workshop services.

Further interests include a stock farm in Molteno as well as a Property Owning company built up over the years and directed towards the motor industry, the business plan being to operate all dealerships from owned premises.

BEST MBA GRADUATE 2011 - THEO TEMBO

Theo was born in Zimbabwe but has some rather nomadic tendencies having lived in no less than four countries. Theo first achieved his O Levels in Zimbabwe and later his A Levels with Blackburn College in the United Kingdom. In 2006 Theo graduated with a BSc in Mathematical Studies at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. Theo’s career started at the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2006 where he served as Strategy and Marketing Consultant. He then moved on to become the Business Development Manager with a company in Manchester, UK. Theo is currently employed as the Sales and Marketing Manager at Twala Trading in Port Elizabeth.

Theo enjoys exploring cultural diversity and learning new languages. In his free time he offers Mathematics tutorial classes to Grades 10, 11, 12, and Undergraduate and Postgraduate students. His other interests include playing and producing music, watching and playing sports, and writing short stories.

In 2010 Theo enrolled for the full time MBA programme and graduated in 2011 as the Best MBA graduate for the academic year 2011, achieving 83% for his research dissertation and an overall average of 77%.

BEST FIRST YEAR FULL-TIME STUDENT – GRATITUDE KUDYACHETE

Gratitude was born and grew up in Zimbabwe where he obtained his B.Eng (Electronic Engineering) Hons in 1998 at the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. He then went on to further his studies achieving a Masters in Telecommunications (Computer Networking) from the University of Pittsburgh, USA in 2002.

Gratitude held several positions in different companies working his way up the career path starting as a IT support intern, Internet Technician and then as Deputy IT Manager at the Zimbabwe Open University, Presale Engineer as well as holding a position as Systems and Security Analyst. Gratitude was also a lecturer in the Computer Science department of the University of Zimbabwe in 2005 after which he was appointed as the Head of Information Technology for a company in Kenya.

Gratitude currently serves as Head at the Sub Saharan Africa Cisco Academy Training Centre, managing the information technology infrastructure as well as managing a portfolio of more than 300 Cisco Academies in Sub Saharan Africa. Gratitude enrolled in the MBA programme as a full time student in 2011 and achieved an average of 75% at the end of his first year positioning him as the Best 1st year full time student for the academic year 2011.

BEST MBA SECOND YEAR STUDENT – COLIN FISH

Colin Fish matriculated from Muir College in 1981 and graduated from UPE in 1985. After working for the Department of Trade and Industry and the automotive industry in Port Elizabeth he moved to Gauteng to establish an export consulting business.

He has effectively been self-employed for the past 20 years consulting predominantly in the Motor Industry Development Programme (MIDP). During this time he also oversaw the export of various OE components from South Africa for Just-in-Time supply to Lotus Sports Cars in the UK.

The MIDP scheme is being phased out at the end of 2012 which prompted his enrolment to the MBA, with a view to developing a new strategy for his consulting business. He has consequently restructured his consulting business to become an outsourced export management service specializing in exports to Africa. Current contracts include manufacturers of automotive aftermarket products and safety footwear. Colin achieved an average of 82% in his second year on the MBA programme, positioning him as the Best MBA second year student for the academic year 2011.

BEST MBA FIRST YEAR STUDENT – JONRAY LEE CHING

Jonray started working as a bank teller after matriculating to support his family and then decided to apply for medicine at the University of Cape Town. Jonray graduated from the University of Cape Town’s Medical School in 2004. At the end of his first year he was chosen to join the Golden Key International Honour Society for coming in the top 15% of his class. He went on to become the Chapter President the following year and was re-elected the year after.

Jonray completed his internship and community service in Port Elizabeth and then joined a small trauma unit outside Dublin, Ireland where he discovered his passion for Emergency Medicine. Jonray currently holds the position of Area Manager in ER Consulting Inc at the St George’s Hospital where he serves the dual role of administrator and regional manager as well as performing clinical duties within each of the units he is responsible for.

He entered the MBA programme in 2011 with the hope of gaining a better understanding, skills and knowledge of the business world, enabling him to tackle current business dilemmas that he is confronted within his current position.

BEST BBA STUDENT 2011 - MISS ONDELA ZIBI

Ondela Zibi received her Bachelor of Pharmacy from the University of Witwatersrand in 2006. She worked her way up starting as a Clicks Pharmacist in Rosebank, Johannesburg and then relocated back to the Eastern Cape were she undertook a Pharmacist internship with the the Frere Hospital in East London and then progressed to Community Pharmacist at the Mthatha Pharmaceutical Depot.

In 2009, Ondela was appointed as Production Pharmacist with Aspen Pharmacare in Port Elizabeth before taking on a new position with Adcock Ingram as a Responsible Pharmacist. In June of this year Ondela was promoted to Pharmacist at Adcock Ingram’s Critical Care Production area where she is currently managing a staff component of over 240 people with five team leaders reporting to her.

Ondela started her BBA part-time studies in 2010 and graduated as the Best BBA student in 2011 with an average of 72%. Ondela has a keen interest in world events and enjoys spending time outdoors.