Business schools are under pressure to "decolonialise" their MBA programmes and make them more relevant to the African business environment.
Education authorities want programmes to "elevate the African narrative" and reduce the dependence on US and European content, says Randall Jonas, chair of the SA Business Schools Association.
This applies mostly to business case studies, which offer students real-life examples of how companies and industries have met challenges. Many have limited relevance to the African business environment, but some SA schools have been slow to build libraries of African cases.
In a globalised business environment, schools must find a balance between African and international studies, says Jonas, who is also director of the Nelson Mandela University Business School. "It’s not a case of one or the other."
Renee Horne, head of the MBA programme at Wits Business School, says the shift is also reflected in international MBA study tours. Traditionally, SA students visit business centres in North America, Asia and Europe, but Wits is seeing more demand for African travel.
One reason is cost but it’s also because students are keen to understand regional business. Many of them will start their own businesses and Africa will be their market, particularly as the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement finds traction.
Henley Africa dean Jon Foster-Pedley says the MBA shift towards African content and context began years ago but needs to accelerate. "When case studies were exclusively Western, they engendered this idea that Africa was inferior," he says.
"They resonated wrongly. Steve Biko once spoke of the colonisation of the mind, and this was what was happening."
The need is not just for decolonialisation but also de-"columnisation", he says. The visual exemplification of MBA excellence remains the massive halls and gilded columns of Harvard and other historic business schools. "For many people in Africa, that is still the image of excellence," he says. "It’s where they aspire to be."
He adds: "Capitalism and liberal democracy have both been discredited globally yet many case studies still reflect their priorities. The outcome of business is no longer just to make a profit but to add value. This is particularly so in Africa. Case studies need to catch up."
Some schools have been arguing the case for syllabus Africanisation for many years. Regent and the Management College of Southern Africa are both members of the Honoris pan-African education network.
"Trying to deny our African heritage is self-defeating," says Regent director Ahmed Shaikh. "As a sector, we have to make our education relevant to where most of our students work and live."
The University of the Free State is still defining its decolonialisation drive. Once that’s complete, the business school will adjust its education accordingly, says director Helena van Zyl.
"The process should be built on the principles of meeting the requirements of society and business," she says.
Johannesburg Business School director Lyal White says it’s ironic that SA educators are being urged to increase African context at the same time as SA is alienating itself from the rest of the continent. He’s not talking just of local xenophobic attacks on citizens of other African countries, which have led to censure and reprisals elsewhere. SA also has an unwelcoming visa system for African visitors.
"We are one of the worst in Africa in terms of encouraging Africans to visit and study here," he says. "Only a few African countries are offered visa-free access to SA. We make it so hard for students and academics to come here. How can you Africanise the MBA curriculum if you don’t want Africans?"
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