S1 Ep.12 Socio-economic justice - how scholarships are changing the way we're changing the world

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The Bertha Centre’s mission is to pursue social impact towards social justice in Africa, through teaching, knowledge-building, convening and catalytic projects with a systems lens on social innovation. The first academic centre in Africa dedicated to advancing social innovation and entrepreneurship, the Bertha Centre, in collaboration with the GSB, has integrated social innovation into the business school curriculum, established a wide community of practitioners, and awarded scholarships on MBA, MPhil & PhD to 91 students from 16 African countries over the past 10 years.

In this slightly different episode of Just for a Change, podcast host Fergus Turner chats with two current Bertha Scholars, Shannon Van Wyk and Sampson Kofi Adotey about their experiences, what inspired them to apply to the scholarship programme and why are they looking to change the world they find themselves in? This is a lively conversation covering a range of topics including some of the inconvenient truths that are present within the social innovation and systems change sphere. What role does politics play? How do we actually make significant shifts within systems that are constructive? Is it all ‘feel good’ work that’s easy? Spoiler alert there - it’s not. This is complex and nuanced work and the invitation to delve deeper into this topic with this conversation is one not to be passed up on.

We also hear from some past Bertha Scholars on how this scholarship has impacted their lives post being involved in the programme and how they are using the ground gained to catalyse and inform their current endeavours.

The links you need to know about:
https://gsbberthacentre.uct.ac.za/catalysing/category/funding-opportunities/
https://www.gsb.uct.ac.za/berthacentre
19 May 2021 English South Africa Business · Non-Profit

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