SA’s only international business school opens its doors in Cape Town

From Left: Barry van Zyl (Chair of the Henley Africa Alumni Community), Nomfundo Xaluva-Dyantyis and Raees Mohammed (Henley Cape Town Alumni Chapter leads)

South Africa's only quadruple accredited, international business school, which has been active in Johannesburg for 30 years, will open its doors in Cape Town in the heart of one of the city’s most creative business districts in 2023.

“Cape Town is South Africa’s innovation capital and one of the most exciting places in the country to be doing business – and thinking differently about how to do business that builds the country. At Henley Africa, we are eager to be a part of this energy. And as the country’s fastest growing and only international business school, we know Henley has a lot to offer the mother city,” says Jon Foster-Pedley, dean and director of Henley Africa.

“As a global business school, we bring rich knowledge and contacts from our 76-year, international teaching and learning network, with campuses in Europe, Africa and Asia. This is blended with deep local expertise that has been tried-and-tested in the demanding Johannesburg market over 30 years. We truly offer students the best of both worlds. All our graduates also gain unparalleled access to a global network of more than 90,000 alumni.”

In 2023, the school will offer four of its accredited qualifications, three at undergraduate level (NQF levels 5,6 &7) and its honours-level Postgraduate Diploma in Management Practice, from its new Brickfield campus in Woodstock. The new campus will also host the school’s executive education and customised programmes for its Cape Town-based corporate clients. Henley Business School is ranked in the top 20 in the world for executive education, and was the highest-ranked business school in Southern Africa in the Financial Times annual rankings released in May 2022.

“We are super excited to welcome clients and students to our beautiful new campus in Cape Town,” says Rashika Padarath, head of Henley’s degree-level management development programme. “We have deliberately chosen one of city’s most creative and up-and-coming business districts to make our home as this reflects the energy and passion of Henley Africa. Our new campus is part of the forward-looking Brickfield Canvas development, an open and creative space that blends a commercial tenant model with a vibey co-working environment.”

Rashika adds that the school’s offering is unique in a number of ways, starting with the fact that it has designed a complete and continuous learning pathway that seeks to radically improve access to management education by creating accredited, ‘stepping stone’ degrees from post-matric right through to an MBA. An added benefit is that people can study without having to sacrifice their pay cheque. 

“We are changing the model of education in South Africa,” she says. “In a country where there is a massive skills and education gap, thousands of working people who may lack the formal qualifications or the luxury of time to study at business school could really benefit from gaining the skills and confidence to manage and lead themselves and others well,” she says.

Henley’s own research indicates that an estimated 36% of senior managers in the public sector did not have the required-level of qualification for their position in 2021, and in the Western Cape, on average, just 29% of managers working across all industries have some form of management qualification. “We simply have to get these numbers up and we want to make it as easy and accessible as possible for more South Africans to rise through the academic ranks,” says Jon.

“At Henley we are working on creating a revolution in learning – equipping people with the required level of qualification while they work. Every year we are adding thousands of skilled, confident and motivated managers into the mainstream so they can build the businesses we need to build Africa.”

To further increase access, Henley Business School Africa also runs one of the largest and most comprehensive self-funded scholarship programmes on the continent and will be extending this benefit to ­­­the Cape Town market. “We’d like to invite all Capetonians who would like to study with us and who think they have a major contribution to make to building the businesses that could build the country and continent to apply,” says Jon.

He adds that the school’s unique advantages – global access, local expertise and unmatched accessibility – have helped it rise dramatically in prominence in South Africa in the past decade.

“We have to pinch ourselves sometimes to remember that back in 2011, we had five staff in a single office offering just one qualification – an MBA. That year we had 30 graduates. Since then, our graduates have grown to nearly 2,000 per year. We are extremely excited to now be able to offer the Henley magic to an even wider pool of South Africans in and around Cape Town.

“This is how we turn the tide in South Africa and build a country and continent that works!”

If you would like to find out how you could unlock your future with Henley Africa, go to www.henleysa.ac.za