Prof Natanya Meyer elected Chairperson of the EDHE Community of Practice for Entrepreneurship Research

Date: Apr 7, 2021 | News

Professor Natanya Meyer Associate Professor within the Department of Business Management at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) has been elected Chairperson of the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Community of Practice (CoP) for Entrepreneurship Research.

It is envisioned that this particular CoP will play a leading role in advancing the national agenda for entrepreneurship through the offering of relevant knowledge, transferal of practical skills and the application of business principles to a specific discipline.

There will also be close collaboration with the SARChI Chair in Entrepreneurship, also based at UJ.

Prof Meyer has so far published more than 60 peer-reviewed articles in national and international journals and conference proceedings. Her research focuses on entrepreneurial and economic related topics with a focus on females, youth and the enabling environment. Prof Meyer will be supported by Dr Makhosazana Vezi-Magigaba, Senior Lecturer and HOD: Business Management at the University of Zululand, as Deputy Chairperson.

The 3rd annual EDHE Kick-Off 2021 took place virtually in a 3-day event from the 24th to the 26th of March. The event was centered around encouraging entrepreneurship against all odds, which is the EDHE theme of the year.

The event was focused on engaging with the champions for entrepreneurship development in universities around the past, present, and future of EDHE.

EDHE was established at the end of 2016 from within the University Education Branch of the Department Higher Education and Training.

The goals of the EDHE Programme are:

• Student entrepreneurship, i.e. mobilising the national student and graduate resource to create successful enterprises that will ultimately lead to both wealth and job creation.

• Entrepreneurship development in academia, i.e. support academics in instilling an entrepreneurial mindset within all students and graduates through the offering of relevant knowledge, transferral of practical skills and the application of business principles, not only to a specific discipline, but across disciplines.
• Developing entrepreneurial universities, i.e. creating a conducive environment that will enable universities to adapt strategically and embark on projects whereby third-stream income can be generated through innovative business ideas.