The Centre for Dynamic Markets (CDM) at the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), won the coveted Tony Elumelu Foundation Africapitalism Award for the Best Teaching Case Study on Sustainable Business in Africa at the sub-Saharan chapter’s annual Academy of International Business (AIB) Conference. The three-day Conference was held at GIBS in the last week of August. The sub-Saharan chapter is one of 18 AIB conference chapters around the world and its goal is to bring together scholars, consultants and specialists in international business from across the globe.

The case study, titled ‘Good African: Adding value and driving development in the coffee industry’ was put together by a GIBS senior lecturer and director of CDM, Dr Lyal White, in collaboration with CDM researcher Adrian Kitimbo and received great reviews.

The awards are named after philanthropist Tony Elumelu of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, an Africa-based and African-funded organisation dedicated to catalysing entrepreneurship across Africa. Mr Elumelu is credited as the creator and leading proponent of Africapitalism, an economic philosophy that advocates the private sector’s commitment to Africa’s development through long-term investment in strategic sectors of the economy that drive economic prosperity and social wealth. The awards are aimed at recognising, rewarding and inspiring academic excellence in tertiary institutions across Africa.

Researcher Adrian Kitimbo said, ‘It was an incredibly intensive case study and it is always great to have one’s work recognised, not only by our African peers but also by our global counterparts. Working with a talented person such as Dr White who has such broad experience and is knowledgeable about various aspects of emerging markets was indeed a great honour.’

The CDM, which comprises a team based at GIBS in Johannesburg and in Nairobi, Kenya is dedicated to generating and sharing information about doing business in dynamic markets in order to better inform and prepare companies and leaders to improve their general management practices in these markets. The case study presented at the Conference is just one element of research undertaken by the Centre.

‘Congratulations to both Lyal White and Adrian Kitimbo on this accolade. Not only does it highlight our research capabilities at GIBS, it puts the school on a par with other internationally recognised schools,’ said Professor Helena Barnard, Director: Research at GIBS.