‘Face your shortcomings in the workplace and study’

I am Mhlonipheni Ntshangase, a 40-year-old father and husband, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, but originally from Pietermaritzburg in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. I am studying for a masters in business administration, popularly known as an MBA.

I started my schooling in Alston Primary School, which was a school for coloured (mixed race) people at the time but beginning to integrate other races. The advantage of attending such a school was the introduction to English at a young age.

Many valuable lessons

I followed my friends to Carter High School (in Pietermaritzburg), which was at the time a school for white children only, on the brink of becoming multiracial. The education at Carter was invaluable to the social and academic environment. Thanks to that experience, I can navigate a multicultural world and understand nuance. Talking, interacting, existing and learning with people from different cultural backgrounds prepared me more comprehensively for the corporate world in general.

I also felt that the high level at which all subjects were taught helped as I resumed my MBA studies. Even subjects I am not comfortable with, like mathematics, were easier to grasp due to the high standards of mathematics I was exposed to at school.

In 1999, I resumed a Bachelor of Social Science degree at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg.

Crossing over to tertiary

I chose social sciences, majoring in psychology or whatever seemed less challenging because my real interest was music production, which I became good at although I was self-taught. This led me to see that my real passion is business – I already saw the signs in high school. In fact, an aptitude test in high school had suggested that I take subjects related to business and entrepreneurship.

I chose to focus on industrial psychology because it was business-oriented. After my degree, I completed a postgraduate diploma in industrial psychology and then an honours degree, specifically to get into business as a career.

Financially, I had no challenges getting my education because my father was a lecturer at the university. Children of staff do not pay fees and that helped but it was not all the way smooth sailing.

Being independent was a challenge

Discipline and adjusting to autonomy were big obstacles to overcome. In high school, we must show up and we are monitored in all ways with punitive measures for non-compliance. This all disappears abruptly [after leaving school], which I and other teenagers simply were not prepared for. At that age, we neither knew what we really wanted nor were we disciplined with our autonomy, so I was a bit lost.

I feel universities should do more to help new students adjust. Assessments like aptitude tests should be conducted and direction given to the students to improve their chances of success. Perhaps career guidance should be compulsory to present all the many options available linked to your identified or preferred area of interest. If it is an area you do not qualify for based on prior performance, a bridging course should be available to assist.

If, with my initial affinity for music production, I had received guidance, I would not only have known more about real career opportunities at my disposal. I also would have convinced my parents who saw it as a hobby, probably accurately so due to a lack of access to information about a career path and steps thereto.

Also, quality education should be free or partly free if our society is to win. It would help more students to cope at university and university graduates would also not resume adult life in debt.

Adding value with an MBA

An opportunity met my preparation while I was doing a masters degree in industrial psychology, so I did not complete it. My career started in labour law as an adviser about human resource issues. I got promoted to business unit manager. This position and its responsibilities exposed me to many professional disciplines I was not familiar with. I was responsible for the profits and losses my unit incurred.

Today, I am a managing director, and my MBA will add substantial value. It is a general MBA from Wits University [the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg], and it helps deepen business knowledge, financial planning and networking skills. Once you enter the working world, you have shortcomings due to your educational focal point, and an MBA covers those bases.

I am financing it myself and that is challenging because grown-up life has enough financial challenges on top of general expenses. It is a worthy sacrifice, though, and time management is not a big issue since I have organised my life around it. I will be done before the end of 2022.