Participants choose courses covering critical topics across categories and locations, taught by leading academics at GNAM partner schools. To qualify for the Certificate, participants should complete three courses taken at three different schools, in at least two countries. The courses must total 15 days of executive education over a two-year period.

Kumeshnee West, Director of Executive Education at the GSB, believes this is a phenomenal opportunity for the school. “It is a huge honour to be part of this programme and to partner with international business schools to offer something that is completely unique in the market,” she says.

The GSB is one of only three business schools in Africa to have triple-crown accreditation from AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS, and West feels its inclusion in the GNAM Certificate programme reiterates the school’s ability to offer “the best and most sought after executive education content to the international business world”. Lagos Business school in Nigeria is the only other African institution to be included in the offering.

Other GNAM partner schools include prestigious international heavy-weights such as Yale; Switzerland’s IMD; Haas at the University of California Berkeley; INSEAD in France and Singapore; ESMT in Berlin and the Sa?d Business School in Oxford.

West is excited about the opportunity this affords local students too. “Our students can gain valuable international experience and are able to customise their education and career paths. The programme is designed for today’s professionals who need to navigate a global business world - it is hugely advantageous to their organisations, and to their personal career journeys.”

She adds that what is so exciting about this programme is its diversity – not only of schools and courses to choose from – but also of its participants. “There is huge diversity on all courses in terms of race, gender, nationality and diversity of industry. The networking, cultural exchange and international exposure presents an exclusive experience for participants.”

Participants pay an initial fee of $1 500 to join the programme and receive a 10% discount on the fee for each course they choose from each university. After completing their three chosen courses, participants must deliver a capstone presentation to a panel including a representative from each participating school to be awarded the GNAM certificate.

West explains, “the capstone presentation demonstrates how they have integrated knowledge from each school and how they are implementing it in their context”.

Paul Black, who describes his role as the “Principal Dot Connector” at Fisherwick Collaborations, a Canadian organisation that offers negotiation strategy support and policy and legislative advice, recently completed the Certificate, including his final course and capstone presentation at the GSB.

“I decided to package up my planned annual executive education into something more than just a series of courses that piqued my fancy. Also, I love to see and experience the world, and this was another way to do it,” he says.

Over 19 months, Black completed Corporate Finance at the London School of Economics; Private Equity & Finance, and Competitive Marketing Strategy at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore; and a mediation course at the GSB - Company-Community Collaboration and Conflict Resolution for Complex Environments.

As Black serves as an advisor on public affairs and Canadian investments and has overseen the negotiation of agreements facilitating major policy overhauls in multiple sectors, he found the GSB mediation course particularly helpful. He says, “the GSB mediation course was the most rigorous and interactive (peer-to-peer work) of any I completed within the GNAM envelope. The professors were very hands-on and accessible, the other participants came from diverse backgrounds, and the pre and post-work was helpful in consolidating learning.”

Black highly recommends participating in the GNAM programme. “If people are looking at skill-building through executive education, having a menu of options they can select from is far more useful than one course at one university. Being able to combine courses is a great way to create something bigger than any one of the courses they may choose to pursue.

“The international experience broadens your network and your knowledge base; and the overall cultural experience is very enlightening.”

To find out more about the GNAM Certificate of Excellence please visit http://advancedmanagement.net/programs/certificate-of-excellence-in-global-business

For information on the GSB's internationally accredited programmes and opportunities, visit http://www.gsb.uct.ac.za/short-courses-2018

Issued by Rothko on behalf of the UCT Graduate School of Business