Attendees at the Faculty of Management Sciences annual prestige seminar.

The Faculty of Management Sciences held its annual Prestige Seminar to foster collaboration and share innovative research among faculty members, postgraduate students, and academics. The seminar provided a platform for thought leaders across departments to present their research, innovations, models, and theories. The faculty is committed to advancing academic scholarship and creating a dynamic intellectual environment.

Prof. Albert Strydom, Dean of Management Sciences, expressed his appreciation to all presenters and attendees, including deans and professors from various departments. He said he is proud to see the rise of a new generation of researchers and expressed hope that this initiative would inspire even more departments to engage in scholarly work. "I am overjoyed to see the emergence of new researchers, and I hope this seminar will serve as a rich source of knowledge for everyone interested in research," he said.

Dr Pearson Sibanda, Chief Executive Officer of Exilite 318 CC and keynote speaker provided an insightful discourse on the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (EE) as a Complex Adaptive System (CAS). He delved into the key components of an entrepreneurial ecosystem, such as a conducive culture, a range of institutional support, enabling policies, leadership, appropriate financial resources, quality human capital, and venture-friendly markets for products. He illustrated how these elements interact dynamically and adaptively, like the principles of Complex Adaptive Systems. He noted that entrepreneurial ecosystems are inherently unpredictable, constantly evolving, and shaped by the continuous interplay of these factors.

He urged policymakers, entrepreneurs, and stakeholders to shift their focus from attempting to control or predict specific outcomes in entrepreneurial ecosystems to designing environments that allow ecosystems to self-organize, adapt, and thrive amidst change. "By understanding how these ecosystems operate, we can move towards creating systems that support adaptability and resilience rather than focusing on rigid control," Dr Sibanda stated.

The seminar served as a fertile ground for intellectual exchange and provided invaluable insights for anyone interested in entrepreneurship and complex systems thinking.