Student apprentices rise to the challenge

Dressed for success: Team Uhuru, made up of (from left, back) Lithalethu Madikazi (Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University), Sechaba Selialia (UCT), Muofhe Maiwashe (UCT), Oyama Sithole (University of the Free State) and Siyanda Pali (University of Pretoria); and (from left, front,) Amanda Snowy Siphokazi April (UCT), Thebe Ntehelang (UCT) and Melanene Valentine (NMMU), was among the apprentices.

UCT students showed off some winning business acumen at the first instalment of the twice-yearly AIESEC Student Apprentice Challenge (SAC) in early May.

The SAC - hosted at UCT for the first time since its 2005 inception - pitted 64 ambitious students from around South Africa in a five-day face-off, testing core business disciplines such as project management, networking, logistics and bargaining. The challenge was jointly organised by AIESEC's UCT chapter and AIESEC South Africa.

Participants pitched ideas directly to corporate representatives under simulated business conditions, with deputy-vice chancellor Professor Crain Soudien among the interested observers.

UCT's Ndumiso Jali was the overall winner, with the remaining top five spots also going to UCT students. Tshepang Lerato Molisana and Matthias Siegfried Friederich Brodner were the first and second runners-up respectively, while Alex Josephine Masucci and Anesu Machekanyanga claimed the remaining two places in no particular order.

Non-profit AIESEC, said to be the largest student-run organisation in the world, aims to help young people discover and develop their leadership potential.