Dumi Mkwanazi, MBA Part Time, 2003-2005

I have fond memories of the Australian professor Gary Stockport who taught us Strategic Management. Anyone who was in that class would remember how he would take us through concepts developed by other authors or leading scholars and at the end would introduce his model/concept and say ‘”Gary Stockport says…..”’, at which point we would mostly crack ourselves.… I also remember Charisse Drobis ever bubbly and always happy to assist with career development and placements.

There was also Jenny and Linda who managed registrations and student affairs, before Zimasa took over. The front registration office had Themba and Jenny who were forever helpful, and ready to provide pointers in how best to manage the pressures of WBS.

My qualifications allowed me to occupy senior positions at Bristol Myers Squibb, Aspen Pharmacare and eventually end up as an Associate Director at Gilead Sciences, a San Francisco based bio-tech company that is the leader in developing ARV molecules and are known for having introduced the world first cure for Hepatitis C – Solvadi and Harvoni.

I studied at WBS at a time that would see Nick Binedell (founder of GIBS) woo over WBS lecturers such as John Ford and Margie Sutherland. I left gainful employment in 2016 to study the Wits Postgrad LLB program as a full-time student and I intend to complete it in 2019. I believe the combination of my corporate experience, the WBS MBA and Wits LLB should position me to eventually take a crack at mergers and acquisitions in one of the top law firms.