LEKGOTLA 2022

We invite you to the 6th annual Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Lekgotla 2022 taking place from Tuesday the 19th to Thursday the 21st of July followed by a one-day Studentpreneurs Indaba on Friday the 22nd in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape, South Africa!

The event takes place in collaboration with Universities South Africa (USAf) and the Department Higher Education and Training (DHET), with the support of the five national EDHE Communities of Practice (CoPs). Importantly, the hosting university of this year’s lekgotla is the Nelson Mandela University (NMU) in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), thus bringing the lekgotla to the Eastern Cape for the first time.

The theme of the EDHE Lekgotla 2022 is #movetomarket, informed by the importance of the commercialisation of research, as well as the imperative to position student entrepreneurs to actively participate in the economy by entering the market with their products and services.

Every year, the EDHE Lekgotla includes the one-day EDHE Studentpreneurs Indaba for student entrepreneurs who are already in business. This event is generally aimed at supporting student entrepreneurs with existing start-ups or small businesses through sharing knowledge, opportunities and networks to support these young entrepreneurs in their entrepreneurial endeavours. This event will take place on Friday the 22nd of July for studentpreneurs – bookings are essential!

The programme of the EDHE Lekgotla 2022 would aim to be relevant and interactive while encouraging a diversity of perspectives and voices.

The sessions are again designed within an action-focused framework with a deliberate sequencing, focus and flow, i.e. showcasing initiatives, learning, practices and policies, engagement with new thinking and ideas, and launching new initiatives and programmes.  

Specifically, the EDHE Lekgotla 2022 will feature three forms of engagement, aligned with each of the three goals of EDHE, i.e.

• a showcase, aimed at introducing examples of leading good practice that would inspire and equip participants;
• a thinktank, aimed at engaging thought leaders in an attempt to grapple with and propose strategic solutions to challenges faced in the university entrepreneurship environment; and
• a launchpad of new and/or existing initiatives, aimed at aligning the showcase and thinktank outcomes with the mobilisation of potentially high impact EDHE initiatives, thus ensuring that the lekgotla, in the true EDHE spirit, culminates in action and ecosystemic change.

High-Level Programme: