Owethu Peki. Image: Harriet Box/UWCIt was Student Entrepreneurship Week, and Owethu Peki, a BCom graduate and current Honours student at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), had good reason to be grateful for the opportunities the University had provided him to pursue his passion for entrepreneurship.
This week, Peki looked back on a highlight of his career - especially as a member of the team that won The Best X-Culture Team Award at the X-Culture Global Business Week Conference and International Business Consulting Competition in Trieste, Italy. The competition, held last month, brought together 30 international teams representing 120 students from 119 universities across 20 countries and six continents.
“To have come out tops was an immense achievement for me. The experience was intense, requiring me to balance academic life with the demands of the competition. I participated as a virtual partner and was the only participant representing South Africa and UWC on my team. We worked with international students and developed consulting recommendations for Fondazione ITS, an international creative and fashion institution based in Trieste,” said the young entrepreneur, from Paarl, who first expressed an interest in commerce by selling snacks at high school.
“My area of responsibility focused on membership programmes and partnerships, where I developed recommendations to strengthen membership engagement, visitor experiences, and strategic partnerships. The win is particularly meaningful to me because it represents a progression from my earlier entrepreneurial experiences at UWC, including winning a plan competition in 2024, to the current application of my business knowledge in an international consulting environment.”
Peki said UWC has offered him many experiences to help improve his skills, through the Small Business Clinic's entrepreneurship mentorship programme and programmes offered by the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI).
“I have had exposure to numerous entrepreneurial workshops at the CEI, which taught me how to approach business challenges from a consulting perspective by first understanding the client’s needs and objectively looking at the root causes of problems that may occur. The workshops helped me become more confident in presenting ideas and taught me how to structure a presentation clearly, logically and persuasively,” he said.
“Since most of the projects were completed in teams, I learned how to share ideas, build on the ideas of others, work through different perspectives and collectively develop solutions. The Small Business clinic has taught me the importance of being mentored, and guided me in the journey of entrepreneurship, as it is a continuous process that needs one to develop with the process.”
Meanwhile, the CEI has continued its work by exposing students to a week of entrepreneurial knowledge by hosting an Entrepreneurship Week at its on-campus CEI CUBE venue from 28 September to 2 October.
The programme was designed to provide students with practical insights into entrepreneurship, innovation, networking and personal development through a range of interactive activities and workshops.
According to Abe Oliver, CEI director, the week was structured to ensure that there was something for every student.
“Whether you have a business idea, are looking to grow your network, want to develop new skills, or simply want to take part in meaningful and exciting activities, there is something for everyone,” he said.
The five-day programme kicked off with The Startup Arena: Don't Just Pitch It, Prove It!, where students were encouraged to test their ideas and gain a better understanding of what it takes to transform concepts into viable ventures. This was followed by a session titled, "Act Like a Business Consultant, Think Like an Entrepreneur," which challenged participants to solve real-world business problems and approach them from an entrepreneurial perspective.
Zingisa Gcwabe is a UWC BCom honours student in management, a business consultant by profession, and a leader in the Economic Activation Office (EAO) under the CEI. She believes the event has positively impacted the mindset of student entrepreneurs by making them realise that at every stage the business goes through, it needs consulting services, such as understanding the root cause of any issue, analysing it, providing recommendations, and measuring the business's success.
“EAO is beyond just giving business theory to students; it offers practical solutions that are tailored to every business, to help the students create real businesses that create employment opportunities and contribute to the economic activity of South Africa. The goal of this event was to improve students' consulting skills by showing them how consultants understand, diagnose, and address the root causes of their business challenges, and how they apply what EAO has taught them to improve their business health. Also, to raise awareness of business consultancy services available to students who have business ideas or existing businesses, to help them to structure their business models,” said Gcwabe.
“We have found that the event awakened students' outlook on business and changed how they think about their businesses and the role of business consultancy services.
“One of the students commented on how EAO has helped students with business development now that there is greater awareness of the consultation services available, and there is a greater willingness to come for help to structure businesses properly.”
Another student learned that the key to assessing the health of one's business is to apply the principles of a business health check, which include customer, value, offer, operations, sales and finances.
Day three featured a session on the Art of Entrepreneurship: Sip & Paint into Power, allowing students to connect while exploring how creative thinking can support entrepreneurial success. The programme then shifted its focus to social responsibility through Disability Awareness & Sensitivity Training, aimed at raising awareness, challenging perceptions and promoting more inclusive environments.
The week culminated on 2 October with CEI Pitch Masters, where students presented their business ideas and demonstrated their creativity and entrepreneurial potential. Oliver said the initiative reflects the CEI's commitment to nurturing entrepreneurial thinking and equipping students with the skills and confidence needed to succeed in an increasingly competitive and innovation-driven world.
