Global MBA Testimonials
The process of creating value through work-integrated learning is extraordinary. It shifts the primary learning experience from the confines of academic institutions to the actual workplaces of our students. This transformation leads to an unparalleled sense of purpose, as it transitions skills training from theoretical teaching to the invaluable experience gained on the job.
Additionally, work-integration redirects the traditional focus of study from analysis to practical implementation. It is the act of implementation that has the power to bring about real change in the world. This new approach enables students to realize their potential in effecting positive changes within their work environments.
We invite you to explore the remarkable feedback from some of our students who have been willing to openly share their experiences of creating genuine value in their workplaces.
Tashinga Chimuti, Chief Finance Officer (CFO) at Medical Aid Society of Central Africa (MASCA), Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
08.2018 |
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Before attempting this course, I was comfortable with limiting my interactions to only local business partners. However now I seem to understand why there are conflicts sometimes when dealing with foreign business partners and I now understand more fully why these occur. I am also now relatively more confident than before in managing these conflicts and therefore do not think I will continue to dread international business transactions and negotiations. Just as I prepare for interviews and meetings, I will now also prepare in advance for future international business negotiations and interactions to enable me to know what cultures to expect and enable me to handle them better. |
| Cross-cultural Management |
Perseverance Chavunduka, Production Superintendent at Bindura Nickel Corporation, Bindura, Zimbabwe
08.2018 |
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As am writing this, am actually using the knowledge I obtained from this course in making a family property viable. I have engaged with the other family members and calculated TARI for the property. The result revealed or confirmed that we are in essence giving away space for free; the ideal rate we have obtained and now know. We are now in the process of correcting previous mistakes to ensure that we move forward sustainably and profitably. I realise this will not be an overnight change but am happy that the other members have bought into the idea and we are together. I am looking forward to seeing the ramp up process up to when we are operating at the ideal levels. |
| Financial Planning |
Tokozana Dhliwayo, Finance Director at ZETDC, Harare, Zimbabwe
08.2018 |
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Applying the theoretical input of this course made me realize the importance of a Research and Development Department in our company to constantly identify and track global trends. At many strategic forums we discussed the issue of renewable energy, but I did not realize the extent in which the world has moved regarding this type of energy. Writing this assignment helped me noticing this trend. |
| The Nature of International Business |
Chido Boka, Managing Director at Boka Floors Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
08.2018 |
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While studying this course, my mind was opened to the world beyond our local borders. I realized that while there are many factors that can affect the business within the local environment; there are also many factors that can affect the business from a global perspective. An eyeopener for me was researching on the WHO FCTC and realizing that in my home country, tobacco is a very important industry as it employs a large number of people. However, there are many elements in the international community who are keen to ensure that tobacco is eliminated altogether. |
| The Nature of International Business |
Tashinga Chimuti, Chief Finance Officer (CFO) at Medical Aid Society of Central Africa (MASCA), Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
08.2018 |
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The concept of globalisation was something I had an abstract understanding of as I always thought it was centred on just technological innovations and platforms so as to make the world a global village and make international business and interaction easier. After going through this course, I now realise that there is so much more to globalisation than just technology, namely political, legal, economic, ecological and socio-cultural factors that need to be considered. I also learnt of the importance of keeping abreast with and having an understanding of global trends that affect business so as to be pro-active and not reactive to the effects. There is no way a business’s strategy can be effectively formulated without conducting a PEST analysis as a start, on the trends identified that affect the business. |
| The Nature of International Business |
Taurai Chitsiga, Senior SAP P2P Business Consultant EMEA at EOH, Berdfordview, South African Republic
08.2018 |
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There is a lot of value this assignment brings to every individual who has taken it. Competition for business is getting tougher every day and companies must come up with strategies to build sustainable competitive business models. Information technology has proved to be one of the tools that can be utilized to build technologically based competitive business models. Gone are the days when IT was viewed as a back-end system used to support business. These days IT is leading from the forefront. This is my area of interest and a lot has been learnt which I will take further after completing these studies. |
| Managing IT and strategy |
Kornelius Iiyambo, Finance Manager at Namibia Fish Consumption Promotion Trust, Walvis Bay, Namibia
08.2018 |
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IBR’s approach to management is far different from the local one. Working on the assignment is came as a surprise as I previously concentrated too much on my subordinate’s weaknesses when agreeing on their training schedule. Having finished the course, I understand that to make them artists of their craft I should target their strengths with more training. I didn’t expect such practical outcomes of an academic study. |
| Tasks and Tools of Effective Management |
Samantha Kachikira, Process safety engineer at Ishecon cc, Johannesburg, South African Republic
07.2018 |
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Personally, as an entrepreneur I will be using the learnings fr om this course to improve profitability of my consulting business. Indeed, it will be the business GPS to financial success. No one has the time to go through all financial statements in depth and understand in detail wh ere we made mistakes as a business. And even worse: when finally understanding mistakes, you notice that you are looking at old information that doesn’t help you making decisions today. TARI – introduced by IBR – will be my tool to financial planning and overall business management. Knowledge of TARI combined with the ability to read and interpret financial statement has increased my management confidence levels and I no longer fear questioning the numbers to the financial director until I get satisfactory results. |
| Financial Planning |
Henry Hoveka, Managing Director at Multi-Wealth Management (Pty) Ltd, Windhoek, Namibia
07.2018 |
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It is encouraging to acquire management skills at the infancy stages of our company’s evolution as the learning outcome will undoubtedly add immense value to me as a lead manager and to our entire team. The recommendations of this assignment are implemented and acted upon by all stakeholders for our combined benefit. I have always struggled to study management subjects but the way in which this course was presented made it so practical and impactful for my learning. |
| Tasks and Tools of Effective Management |
Perseverance Chavunduka, Production Superintendent at Bindura Nickel Corporation, Bindura, Zimbabwe
07.2018 |
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The analysis process of my employer’s financial reports helped me give meaning to the numbers. As am a technical person, this process has tied up the loop for me as I now have a better understanding of the implications of production activities to the financial position of the organisation and how these fit into the greater picture or scheme of things in the firm. This course has been empowering for me as now I have more confidence in going through financial reports and actually make sense of the numbers and determine the various ratios. Previously, whenever I came across these reports I would quickly flip through. |
| Financial Accounting |
Kornelius Iiyambo, Finance Manager at Namibia Fish Consumption Promotion Trust, Walvis Bay, Namibia
06.2018 |
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I have been exposed to various management theories and research but the type of thinking and reasoning presented in this module is new to me. The value created for our organization is enormous in the sense that we applied the various management theories and principles with little success as the results have been haphazard. The value created for me personally is more than I expected. I have realized the course outcome guides me at my workplace. Also, I can apply them in all other areas of my life which is not always the case with other management tools. Most importantly, I can share the outcome also with employees at lower level as it ignore the hierarchical nature of organizations and consider all to be managers at their own work station. |
| Principles of Effective Management |
Henry Hoveka, Managing Director at Multi-Wealth Management (Pty) Ltd, Windhoek, Namibia
06.2018 |
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Being a trained technical financial services expert focusing on mainly investment consulting and technical pension benefit solutions, the management discipline was the least of my interest areas over the years. However, as I grew in my career paths over the last 20 years, the management discipline became most challenging as I have never formally received management training on the job. In writing the assignment, the build-up to the recommendation and implementation station not only impressed my logical mind flow. I was equally impressed by the fruitful ideas that I could have come up with long ago. I am grateful for this course and I am certain that the recommendations will aid us employees, shareholders and clients. |
| Principles of Effective Management |
Perseverance Chavunduka, Production Superintendent at Bindura Nickel Corporation, Bindura, Zimbabwe
06.2018 |
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This was not a particularly easy course for me. However, after I went through the materials a couple of times, I started getting the sense of it and how I can actually apply it in real life and not just theory. I can now see the essence of understanding the future profit potential for any organisation and not just for my employer. This will help me even as am working on starting something of my own. The other parameters like profit which all along I had used as a measure of business success are now fitting into the bigger picture and I now know that they on their own do not determine the sustainability of a business. |
| Strategic Management |
Kornelius Iiyambo, Finance Manager at Namibia Fish Consumption Promotion Trust, Walvis Bay, Namibia
06.2018 |
| In the preceding assignments of this module, I dealt with topics in isolation. This assignment introduced me how to think in aggregate of all issues that I have learned and to use them in order to have a full picture of issues that should be considered by an investor when making decisions. International investors always have questions that look at all issues and especially risks and rewards associated with an investment and using an integrated approach such as this create a better platform in answering these questions. |
| International Business Law |
Lerato Mphelo, Strategic Programme Manager at Absa Group, Johannesburg, South African Republic
06.2018 |
| Having to create a new mission statement for my startup company made me realize that there is still more work to be done in evaluating my core strengths I want to bring to this competitive market of consulting. I got to realize that I need to build a more compelling evidence of how the firm will be able to significantly differentiate itself. |
| Strategic Management |
Sharon Bwanya, Chief Operating Officer at Nurture Invest, Harare, Zimbabwe
06.2018 |
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The timing of this assignment could not have been more fortuitous for me or for our company. I have worked on the assignment during a time when the firm has just done a strategy workshop and was reviewing the strategy report prepared by the consultant. Following the visit to our offices by Dr. Kelling and given the thrust of this assignment, the partnership resolved to shelve the strategy report and to then review it after this assignment has been assessed so that the recommendations herein and the comments made in marking it are taken into consideration in deciding the overall strategic objectives for the firm. It has thus been a great privilege and responsibility to be shaping the future of the firm through this assignment and I look forward to constructive feedback as always. |
| Strategic Management |
Vander Mutenga, Finance Director at BancABC, Harare, Zimbabwe
05.2018 |
| I learnt the principles of effective management on this course. This was an exciting course as it gave me insights into some of the principles that I wasn’t aware of. Having gone through training sessions that focused on addressing weaknesses and very few that sharpened my strengths, IBR introduced me to a different approach to achieving my goals where my main developmental focus shall be on utilizing strengths. The other principles also enhanced my understanding of how management works and by implementing my recommendations, I am going to be a better manager going forward. |
| Principles of Effective Management |
Annabelle Moller, Head of Internal Audit at MTC, Windhoek, Namibia
05.2018 |
| It was very enlightening to see and explore how the first two courses, international business and cross-cultural management are used to build a business proposal. It highlighted to me the importance of the various aspects to consider, from a company, country and investor’s perspective. So, when doing or review investment proposals I will definitely be looking for more than only financial considerations. |
| International Business Law |
Prosper Rugube, Process Operations Manager at MINOPEX, Tete, Mozambique
05.2018 |
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The writer thoroughly enjoyed going through this course. Whilst the writer has had previous training in quality management and process improvement tools, this course allowed me the platform to refresh those skills and learn more aspects of six-sigma. As seen from the recommendations, the writer has started implementing some of the concepts learnt through this course. The way in which the six-sigma tools are streamlined in the mandatory reading material, allowed me further knowledge on which tool is more appropriate in various stages of the DMAIC concept. There have been significant benefits to the organization as well. This is evidenced by the reduction in the amount of screen panel failures which will assist in achieving our annual production target. |
| Operations Processes |
Prosper Rugube, Process Operations Manager at MINOPEX, Tete, Mozambique
05.2018 |
| As a developing manager working my way up the corporate ladder towards executive management, this course has helped me to have a deeper understanding of financial accounting and analysis. This will allow me to participate actively in monthly performance meetings with executive managers. In our monthly performance meetings, we discuss issues related to EBIT/EBITDA, cash flows, market analysis, peer group analysis etc. |
| Financial Accounting |