Innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship and social change
HENLEY Business School Africa is ranked in the top one percent of business schools globally. It has triple accreditation from the world’s three leading educational bodies and its MBA is a globally recognised international qualification that is locally accredited.
“But,’ says Dean and Director Jonathan Foster-Pedley, “they are not the only compelling reasons to study with us.
“Over the past 26 years Henley Africa has developed a solid South African identity and is deeply immersed in the socio-economic landscape.
“We are committed to playing a key role in the transformation of the country and giving those whose start in life was hindered by inferior education an opportunity to flourish and become their best selves.”
Of the student body 70 percent are black and 42 percent are women.
The school also attracts a large international contingent from other parts of Africa, which adds to a welcome and celebrated diversity. It has in the seven years under Foster-Pedley’s leadership grown by 800 percent.
He says, “Studying at Henley is not about how to make more money, have status and become part of the global elite, but rather about collective, collaborative learning and development. Our mission is to build people who build the business that builds Africa, rather than building the people, who build the businesses that build places like Sandton and Dubai.
“The future of our country depends on as many people as possible having access to quality education that allows them to build a prosperous and thriving environment”
Foster-Pedley says Henley Africa constantly seeks ways to add value by doing things differently.
“For example, our MBA enables students to spend quality time with their families while studying.
“For South Africa to prosper, it needs to develop innovative ways of doing business.
“Our Centre for Innovation, Creativity & Entrepreneurship plays a central role in the transformation of students into critical, creative and imaginative thinkers and disruptors.
“Ones able to bring real and impactful change to their workplace environments while focusing their energies on aligning businesses objectives with the needs of society.
“The focus on developing an experimental mindset has helped tons of entrepreneurs grow their businesses by thinking out of the box, while helping large corporates achieve agility and flexibility in their business approach.”
The centre works in close collaboration with two of Henley’s other business units – Henley MBAID and Henley FIRE – which focus on creating immerse learning experiences for students and corporate executives.
Henley MBAID immerses students in projects and social learning environments that take them out of their comfort zones, challenges their world views, and helps them understand how business can be used for the greater good.
Henley Fire creates short, intense immersive learning experiences for corporate groups in experiential learning environments.
These are designed to disrupt their thinking, so they find new, innovative and imaginative ways of working and dealing with complex business problems.