CUT hosted Fikile Kuhlase, Head of Old Mutual Foundation; Princess Gabo Moroka-Motshabi, of Barolong Royal House, Kaizer Motaung Junior and Richard Mabaso, Chief Executive Officer of Imbumba Trust on 8 September for 2020, for a tour of our innovation facilities.

The tour included the CUT Sanitizer Project, the CUT Solar Power Project and the CUT Centre for Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing (CRPM), which has received a significant contribution from Old Mutual to produce medical health devices which CRPM had prototyped.

Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof. Henk de Jager said: “All our students are creative, we need to create an environment for them where that creativity will be unlocked. We need to create graduates, it’s a given, but what is the real purpose of all of that, and that is to impact society, to improve the lives of people and to assist government to grow our economy, and that is why we value our partnerships.”

Head of Old Mutual Foundation, Fikile Kuhlase was impressed by the collaboration between the provincial Old Mutual and CUT’s CRPM. “Being here is really to explore what possibilities there are and where else there is a need for support. Our biggest portfolio in the Old Mutual foundation is education, and there are several initiatives that we are involved in, but its interesting to hear about the innovation eco-system in particular. As Old Mutual our support was mainly around e-learning, online resources but still it could not reach those that are marginalised. And being here with our partners to explore further where we can tap into supporting,” said Kuhlase.

“This has truly been a great learning experience. The foundation is of the basis of making change through education and sports, to put a relief for hunger and social injustice to make proper change. The things that people have a passion for, it is much easier to use that as a transformation platform and to uplift and help others in the long term. It is special for us to be here because another thing that COVID-19 has taught us is that we have had to think out the box and innovation and entrepreneurship and that frame of thinking is the one that is making a change in the world,” added Kaizer Motaung Junior.

Richard Mabaso, Chief Executive Officer of Imbumba Trust and Trek4Mandela Expedition team leader, was among guests who visited CUT facilities. Through Trek4Mandela Project, he has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro six times to raise funds for sanitary pads, which is one of the initiatives his foundation focuses on. “What the VC has mentioned about creativity, sometimes it’s in a certain environment; sometimes its outside, but all it means is that creativity is in our brains, so we can see problems and challenges and there is always an opportunity to create a solution that can not only be for yourself, but can also be beneficial for other people as well,” said Mabaso.

Caption

The delegation touring the various innovation facilities at CUT.