MBA diary: At the foot of the rainbow

THE journey from IMD business school in Switzerland to South Africa is well flown. Since 2002 the school has sent all of its MBAs on what it calls the "Discovery Expedition"—a study trip to an emerging economy to work with local businesses. For five of the last six years students have headed to the rainbow nation.

No sooner had we touched down at O.R. Tambo airport than we were getting to grips with our brief. My team was asked to look at ways in which government agencies in Gauteng province could better help the country's blacks create small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs). Currently this is done through business incubators and a policy of positive discrimination called Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment. It was no small task. Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg and Pretoria, is the country’s most populous. We had five days. Read More...