Wits Business School launches MBA with a difference
WHEN Wits Business School (WBS) was developing its new MBA in the field of healthcare leadership (MBA–HL), it knew it had to choose the programme director very carefully.
Ideally, the candidate should be a doctor who has extensive health industry experience while being at home in the classroom at the same time. They should also have an entrepreneurial mindset and be up for a big challenge. In Dr Pino Maqhawe Mavengere (MBChB, MBA), WBS found the right person at the right time.
A medical doctor by training, Mavengere worked as an administrator and change management consultant in the public health sector, among other things, before starting his own company, Health Metrics. Fulfilling a long-held desire to teach, Mavengere ended up as an honorary lecturer at the Wits School of Public Health – focusing on strategy, financial management and leadership.
That was when the opportunity at WBS presented itself.
“The timing was right for me to take my experience forward, and I was ready for a new challenge. I have been tasked with spearheading the MBA in the field of healthcare leadership programme – helping to develop the curriculum on paper, but importantly, also to see it take shape as a tangible product,” he said.
Mavengere has joined a team of experts who have collaborated closely on developing the programme content. These include colleagues from the Wits faculties of health sciences and public health, as well as from further afield, including the CT Bauer School of Business and University of Houston.
With a strong bias towards leadership development, the WBS MBA–HL is distinct from other similar offerings in South Africa. While other institutions may offer an MBA with electives in healthcare, the MBA–HL at WBS targets only those working as professionals in the industry, including doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, and clinicians. Each module revolves around healthcare, so
traditional MBA courses such as strategic planning, marketing and economics are focused on healthcare only.
Mavengere believes the new MBA–HL addresses a gap in both the education and healthcare landscapes, and meets the needs of healthcare professionals as well as those of the country.
“We have well-trained professionals in the health industry such as doctors, nurses and so on. They are almost always specialists, but typically their education does not look at things like strategy, financial management and so forth. So, you have highly qualified people in the industry, but they need to go out of the industry to learn business principles.”
With the much-debated and complex National Health Insurance (NHI) on the horizon in South Africa, the country is facing extraordinary challenges in the sector. For Mavengere, a critical component will be developing a pipeline of thought leaders who can steer the sector into a sustainable future.
“There’s never enough money, enough people or enough political will – those challenges will always be there. But you need institutions that are devoted to development. I know that WBS can lead the field in healthcare leadership, and I am excited to be part of this journey.”