Global MBA Testimonials
The process of creating value through work-integrated learning is extraordinary. It shifts the primary learning experience from the confines of academic institutions to the actual workplaces of our students. This transformation leads to an unparalleled sense of purpose, as it transitions skills training from theoretical teaching to the invaluable experience gained on the job.
Additionally, work-integration redirects the traditional focus of study from analysis to practical implementation. It is the act of implementation that has the power to bring about real change in the world. This new approach enables students to realize their potential in effecting positive changes within their work environments.
We invite you to explore the remarkable feedback from some of our students who have been willing to openly share their experiences of creating genuine value in their workplaces.
Perseverance Chavunduka, Production Superintendent at Bindura Nickel Corporation, Bindura, Zimbabwe
01.2019 |
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An enlightening course for a person such as myself who is not a marketer, but it brings about the need to ensure that trivial looking aspects of the business such as communication can be detrimental to the whole if not dealt with properly. Yes, as an engineer I can ensure that the production is done well but it’s all a waste if I do not have a market for the products I make. More engineers need to know about IBR’s marketing approach. |
| Marketing Decisions and Managing Activities |
Henry Hoveka, Managing Director at Multi-Wealth Management (Pty) Ltd, Windhoek, Namibia
12.2018 |
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It was indeed an enlightening module and the content of this assignment will be shared at both board and Exco level for a concerted commitment in making the recommendations herein a business reality in the near future. The writer is grateful for this learning and look forward to further Human Resources Management modules. |
| Recruitment, Selection and Placement of HR |
Sharon Bwanya, Chief Operating Officer at Nurture Invest, Harare, Zimbabwe
12.2018 |
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As a member of the firm’s first marketing committee that will start operating in January, this assignment has helped me to start formulating the firm’s marketing plan and marketing activities that the marketing committee will be pursuing. Since the marketing committee will be on a 6-month trial basis, we will have to hit the ground running as we will have no time to waste. This assignment has therefore given us a head-start in terms of the activities we will be undertaking and to be able to justify such activities and communications as essential tools to help the firm fulfil its strategic objectives. As a proponent of the marketing committee, the success of such committee is quite personal, and this assignment has given me the tools and confidence that will go a long way towards a successful trial run. |
| Marketing Decisions and Managing Activities |
Sharon Bwanya, Chief Operating Officer at Nurture Invest, Harare, Zimbabwe
12.2018 |
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I must admit that this marketing module has thus far been the most challenging for me and it is because, traditionally, local law firms have not paid much attention to marketing due to restrictions on advertising. So, this has been quite unchartered territory for me. However, what this course has made me realize is that most law firms (including ours) have fallen into the trap of confusing advertising and marketing – which are two different concepts, albeit related. What is most frowned upon in our legislation is loud solicitous advertising and touting marketing activities such as broadcasting to the public that a law firm is the best or cheapest or fastest as this is considered conduct that is unprofessional and unworthy of the noble profession. This course has made me pore over the industry marketing and advertising guidelines and I have realized that there is nothing therein that bars law firms fr om conducting ethical market research wh ere necessary because at the end of the day, law firms are businesses that need to make informed strategic decisions in order to thrive. In a nutshell, the value creation has been to change my mindset towards marketing and to make me (and the firm) realize that there is more that can be creatively done under marketing even within what we perceive to be restrictive industry regulations. |
| Marketing Research |
Samantha Kachikira, Process safety engineer at Ishecon cc, Johannesburg, South African Republic
12.2018 |
| This assignment has opened my eyes to the endless business opportunities. The market research proposal is for my new company and this has created value in that I now have a go to document when I want to pitch my ideas to potential investors. |
| Marketing Research |
Perseverance Chavunduka, Production Superintendent at Bindura Nickel Corporation, Bindura, Zimbabwe
12.2018 |
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This course has helped me understand or differentiate some of the terms that I would get confused about. What normally happens is, some of these theories I have been doing but blindly. Now, designing a market proposal has helped me to put theories into practice thus showing me how practical it is to incorporate into my actual work. |
| Marketing Research |
Lerato Mphelo, Strategic Programme Manager at Absa Group, Johannesburg, South African Republic
12.2018 |
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The marketing management course has helped to appreciate the importance of linking marketing and communication to the company’s strategic objectives to an extend that I could connect it all together. With regards to the strategic objectives I appreciated the integration of this module with the ones on Financial management and Entrepreneurship. During the marketing residential period we completed a marketing plan for our businesses. This course on marketing decisions and activities allowed me to revisit my marketing plan and update it with more well thought and achievable marketing communication for my company. |
| Marketing Decisions and Managing Activities |
Perseverance Chavunduka, Production Superintendent at Bindura Nickel Corporation, Bindura, Zimbabwe
12.2018 |
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This course has helped me open up my mind to marketing. I previously had this notion that marketing was all about being a great talker and have your product/service sold. Now after having gone through the readings as well as the residential, I have reasonable understanding of the two and how and when each needs to be applied. Taking the theory and trying to apply it to our company, I see opportunities of opening new markets. Also privately, I see myself using what I have learnt in the family business that we are working on with my husband. |
| Strategic Marketing |
Sithabile Rondozai, Client Relationship Manager at CBZ, Harare, Zimbabwe
11.2018 |
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I always thought that employees needed to do their dream job and be motivated for them to produce results. I expected them to be self-motivated and produce results because I assumed, they were in their dream position. After having completed this assignment, I realized that I need to help them plan their work so that they are efficient through concentrating on a few things that matter. I have started implementing this learning outcome, having each subordinate being responsible for different key issues, instead on all of them doing the same thing with mediocrity. It was received extremely well, and we are confident that as a department we will be most efficient this year. |
| Principles of Effective Management |
Henry Hoveka, Managing Director at Multi-Wealth Management (Pty) Ltd, Windhoek, Namibia
11.2018 |
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Given my investment led career path, Marketing has been totally misunderstood by myself as a mere academic elective that has no significant meaning in business beyond actual sales and related activities such as branding and advertising. Writing the assignment opened my appreciation for marketing as a key business pillar given its ability to source market data for conversion into information. Sharing the proposal that we had to develop as the assignment for this course, my colleagues and I decided to conduct our first ever marketing research project, using the guidelines learned. I am amazed to see how the marketing research learning coupled with the initial IBR teachings has added to the further enrichment of my development as a prospective leading entrepreneur in Namibia. |
| Marketing Research |
Tokozana Dhliwayo, Finance Director at ZETDC, Harare, Zimbabwe
11.2018 |
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Working on this assignment made me realize our major weaknesses of failing to set personal annual objectives for employees. Strategic management ends with identifying key result areas for the business and not personal objectives for the individuals. The symptoms of a bad organization I have noticed also it in other departments where there are lots of meetings with lots of people and lots of jobs with a bit of everything. The outcome of this assignment will lead to improve decision making; that is for sure. |
| Tasks and Tools of Effective Management |
Chido Boka, Managing Director at Boka Floors Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
11.2018 |
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Once again, this assignment forced me to introspect and look at my past actions and really consider ways in which I could be more effective. This assignment has helped me to see where I could have done better in the past in my everyday work. The most important outcome of this course is that I believe I will be a more effective manager. Once again, I feel I have gained as an individual and I also feel motivated to share this information with my team in order to improve effectiveness and efficiency in our organisation. |
| Tasks and Tools of Effective Management |
Tashinga Chimuti, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Medical Aid Society of Central Africa (MASCA), Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
11.2018 |
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There was a lot to learn in this course. What is particularly new to me is that I can actually manage myself as a manager by having a manual in the form of my implementation plan above. Going forward I am going to use this research to start being systematic in my management approach. |
| Tasks and Tools of Effective Management |
Ndomupeyi Chikonye, Projects Manager at Zesa Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, Harare, Zimbabwe
10.2018 |
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By going through this course, I have seen how my lack of knowledge of effective management has negatively impacted on the quality of my work. It has raised my consciousness on how important issues such as trust are critical in achieving the best out of people. My perception about multi-tasking has been changed and I will be able to do it better using the recommended control span rule “seven plus/minus two” of the principle of concentrating on a few things at a time. A great exercise to write an assignment for myself |
| Principles of Effective Management |
Perseverance Chavunduka, Production Superintendent at Bindura Nickel Corporation, Bindura, Zimbabwe
10.2018 |
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Going through the assignment has made me to dig more into some of the key financial planning principles. I got confused at one point in the application of TARI to attaining the gross profit as the figures were not making sense. But as I went based to all the assumptions I had made as well as the plant design capacity, I managed to pick the error and be able to continue. One thing I like about this MBA is that “copy-paste” does not work; I have to think and apply myself to the subject matter. (Not always a joyful task!). What I have learnt from this course and module, I am already applying in the family business model we are doing as well as in my own cosmetics side sales thing am doing. For the cosmetic line, I have managed to determine my own pricing, taking into consideration my expected net income as well as total costs. I now know how many sales per day am supposed to make in order to achieve my monthly targets. Each day counts! |
| Advanced Financial Planning |
Tashinga Chimuti, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Medical Aid Society of Central Africa (MASCA), Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
10.2018 |
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Before I attempted this assignment and forced myself to pick a case where I was a poor manager, I was really clueless as to why on some jobs/ assignments there was conflict or failure to achieve results. I also did not see at all where I went wrong on the particular case and therefore did not have closure on the issue to enable me to learn fr om the experience. Now I feel better equipped to do an honest assessment of myself as a leader and have clarity on wh ere in the past I made mistakes. I have a new zeal now to continue to apply the 5 principles in a more conscious manner and to train those beneath me to do the same. |
| Principles of Effective Management |
Sharon Bwanya, Chief Operating Officer at Nurture Invest, Harare, Zimbabwe
10.2018 |
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The greatest value creation for me coming out of this assignment has been the opening up of my mind by application of the lateral marketing method to come up with a draft mobile application for the firm. I have named the application MS Connect for now and it is designed to do just that, to connect our law firm to the market. The application is an exciting platform that will be a first in our jurisdiction for a law firm and it will ensure that we deliver the content we want to deliver to the market (within the confines of the law) timeously and in a manner that is customized to every user as they can sel ect which content they wish to receive fr om us. |
| Strategic Marketing |
Chido Boka, Managing Director at Boka Floors Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
10.2018 |
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This assignment was particularly stressful for me. This is because it forced me to introspect and look at my own actions and personality as opposed to the actions of others. I believe I created value as I have made several personal commitments as part of my recommendations which I will work hard to adhere to in order to succeed. After having written the assignment, I understand that I do not always have to be “right” being the head of an organisation. It was also an eye-opener that those working with me “trust” me. This was truly a light bulb moment for me as all of a sudden, a lot of mistakes that I made in the past made sense. I feel I have gained as an individual and I also feel motivated to share this information with my team in order to improve effectiveness and efficiency in our organisation. |
| Principles of Effective Management |
Rufaro Muzamhindo, Sales Manager at Rainbow Tourism Group, Harare, Zimbabwe
10.2018 |
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The course created value as it taught me that though the Marketing plan was not being considered as important at my workplace it is very important to give direction to the company and to solve problems. Writing the assignment has also helped me identifying ways to come up with new ideas that I will propose to management so that we can even generate more ideas to boost sales. |
| Strategic Marketing |
Sithabile Rondozai, Client Relationship Manager at CBZ, Harare, Zimbabwe
09.2018 |
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This course was an eye-opener for completely new business opportunities that we have never been thinking about. I work in the private banking department as a financial adviser. Having written the assignment, I will now be able to advise my clients on the best procedures to following when seeking a foreign investor. This can develop into a specialized department that could assist local businesses attract the best foreign investors by producing good investment proposals. This specialised department could charge for its services and increase revenue to the bank. |
| International Business Law |