Standard Bank Centre for Agribusiness Leadership and Mentorship Development
Page Image
Page Content
Standard Bank Centre for Agribusiness
Leadership and Mentorship Development
Agriculture plays a key role in both economic growth and human development, yet the sector faces major challenges, which could undermine progress and stability in South Africa and elsewhere on the continent. These include the slow pace and high failure rate of land reform projects, as well as a range of difficulties faced by emerging farmers entering mainstream commercial agriculture.
The Standard Bank Centre for Agribusiness Leadership and Mentorship Development, which was established in the Faculty of AgriSciences in April 2010, will help address some of these problems by training managers and mentors who in turn can advise emerging farmers on successful commercial farming, and developing best-practice case studies for agribusiness strategy and models to support agricultural transformation.
The Centre envisages collaborative knowledge generation in response to calls by government and the agribusiness sector for private/public partnerships in land reform. The Centre falls under the Department of Agricultural Economics in the Faculty of AgriSciences, which offers multi-disciplinary postgraduate programmes, including PhD and master’s degrees, as well as certificate and diploma courses. These educational opportunities are aimed at graduate students and future executives and leaders in the agribusiness development sector.
The mentorship programme provides a learning-by-doing experience through various accredited short courses. Professional services firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is one of the strategic partners involved in the courses.
The Centre has been endorsed by AgriSETA, the South African government’s Agricultural Sector Education Training Authority, and by the country’s Agricultural Business Chamber. Networking with other institutions of learning elsewhere in Africa and internationally is a priority.