Pieter Smit, the top achiever of the North-West University’s (NWU’s) School for Business and Governance, shined bright during the recent MBA awards ceremony and received the ABSA gold medal as best MBA achiever.
This is the first time that ABSA is sponsoring this award, which includes a nine carat gold medal (engraved with the student’s name), a certificate, as well as a floating trophy and a cash amount.
“It is a privilege to enjoy ABSA’s involvement and we look forward to future collaboration,” says Prof Tommy du Plessis, director of the school.
Pieter, an alumnus of the NWU, has been working at Monsanto SA for more than eight years. For the past year he is the marketing manager responsible for the promotion and client strategy and basic marketing of Monsanto’s products in South Africa.
During his speech at the MBA awards ceremony, he said that the masters of our future are nobody else but ourselves, and that it is each person’s responsibility to play a role in the improvement of our society and country. “Graduates, the best of the best, the masters of business and leadership: use your knowledge and influence to give a voice to the voiceless, and to rid society of judgement and polarisation. Live true and according to the morals you would like to see in our society.“
This year, Peter Kungeke received the silver medal from the Professional Provident Society (PPS) for the best mini-dissertation. Peter is currently employed at Toyota Tsusho Africa as an assistant general manager for after-sales support in Africa. PPS has been the sponsor of the silver medal for years.
The School of Business and Governance awarded 69 MBA degrees in total on 23 May.
From left: Prof Tommy du Plessis, Director: NWU School for Business and Governance; Prof Susan Visser, Vice-Rector: Research and Planning; Ms Vicky Ramela, Regional Executive Officer: ABSA; Pieter Smit, best overall performer in the MBA programme; Prof Jan van Romburgh, Dean: Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences and Mr Pierre Nel, Regional Manager: ABSA Private Banking, North-West region.
