Become a master of networking
The online option doesn’t have the status of traditional education yet, but things are changing fast
“Before actually signing up, I wish I’d known just how important the networking aspect is,” says Mudiwa Gavaza. “What makes an MBA an MBA is the type of people that you get to interact with, in your specific business school.” The 32-year-old did his MBA at Rhodes University and has gone on to make his mark in the world of business journalism. He writes for Business Day and Financial Mail and is a radio host and producer at the Wits Radio Academy.
He says that some of the actual coursework of an MBA from any prestigious institution could technically be consumed and understood by someone outside of the course, but the core value of getting the qualification is the professional and personal connections made along the way.
This not only includes the managers, executives and business owners one might study with, but the staff of the business school. For instance, Gavaza was taught by Professor Mervyn King SC, the former Constitutional Court judge who penned a widely used set of guidelines. Gavaza asks: “Who better to teach about governance than the person who actually wrote the code of governance himself?”
Gavaza explains that the MBA has helped him with networking and his professional life long after graduation, particularly as someone who frequently reports on companies and economies, and speaks to executives who have also had postgraduate education.
“As you interact with people within especially corporate spheres, you’re looked at a little bit differently when you do have the MBA designation, and also, at the same time, I think it helps you to think about business within the big picture context.”
He says that the MBA not only gives him legitimacy as a journalist, it has also prepared him well to understand complex concepts that he needs to communicate to the public.
Postgrad, or work experience first?
While the benefits of Gavaza’s MBA are clear, in some ways he went against the common advice of entering the working world before returning for his postgraduate education. The university allowed him the opportunity to go from his fourth-year Postgraduate Diploma in Enterprise Management straight into a full-time MBA.
This meant doing several courses concurrently, followed by research and a thesis, which all ran in total over two years. It also brought him into the career world a little later than some of his peers, but Gavaza stands by his choice. “Looking back, I don’t regret it, because now you do see a lot of people trying to make that decision, and I’m glad that I did it at the time that I did.”
Gavaza did not miss out, because he worked as the deputy station manager of Rhodes Music Radio during his studies, and based his MBA research upon that organisation. The research has since been published and presented at forums, and he is contributing to a book about the evolution of radio.
“When I was doing the degree, I definitely saw the value, because having an organisational background within which to frame how you think about business is important,” he says. “It’s one thing to think about business in an abstract way, but quite another to think about it in a practical way.”
Tips for prospective MBA students
Gavaza consolidates this value that the MBA has given him into three main pieces of advice for others who are considering doing a similar course in order to gain that competitive edge. He makes it clear that completing such a degree requires considerable enthusiasm and initiative.
Firstly, regardless of one’s field of work or business, one has to be highly competent. He explains that a bachelor’s degree in commerce often gives you a generalised grounding, but specialising in a particular field and gaining strong sector knowledge can be key.
The second piece of the puzzle comes from the networking aspect that he sees as crucial to the process. While Gavaza knows that it might seem unfair, he has found that knowing someone or making them notice you can be key. “This is because opportunities don’t come out of the ether, they come from people. If you can get the right people to notice you, there’s a higher chance of getting opportunities and those competitive edges.”
Lastly, Gavaza says “when you are competent and know the right people, you must be able to execute”. He says that in the end, while a degree might greatly prepare a graduate for the work, each individual still has to step up to the opportunities presented to them. “Having an MBA is not something that guarantees your ability to execute
— that’s all on you.”
Gavaza clearly has a long, successful road ahead in his career. He is living out his own advice by not only having the academic and relational grounding of an MBA, but smartly leveraging this to bring value to his networks.