MBA students to mix it up with fashionistas

This makes last week's launch by the Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs) of a satellite campus in the heart of Joburg's fashion district, in the old city centre, particularly exciting, Palmi says.

"I think it's a good model.... Look at international designers that have really made a name for themselves, and you will see they have not done it on their own.

"There is always a business partner.... They keep it quiet, but it's quite hard to run a business and do all that boring stuff and then be creative on top of that."

Immersed in progression

Gibs Dialogue Circle manager Anthony Prangley says the business school settled on nestling its satellite campus in the fashion district because it wanted a place where its students could immerse themselves in "a story of change that was still in progress".

"It was a particular choice, not necessarily because of the fashion industry, but because we wanted to be part of something, to contribute to something that was still in construction," he says.

He was hugely impressed by the "neatness and vibe" around Johannesburg's fashion district.

The district - 26 blocks on the eastern edge of the city centre - houses more than 100 fashion-related businesses, including cut, make and trim operators, a budget clothing retail industry, and studios such as designer Clive Rundle's.

The Gibs campus is housed in Pritchard Street's Fashion Kapitol, a building with shops, offices, studios, a restaurant, an outdoor ramp and the Fashion District Institute, a not-for-profit company promoting Jo burg as Africa's fashion capital.

Funding still an issue

While the space provided for young designers to set up shop in the Kapitol is commendable, the perennial problem of limited access to finance limits what can be done, says Palmi.

Banks are reluctant to fund start-up businesses without proof of sustainability, which makes it difficult for some young designers to even put down the rent for a small studio and set up their business.

"Also we're still so, so focused on glamour. You can have a fashion show like the one [international entrepreneur Richard Branson] came to, but how much business was done there? Did the designers sell? What economic benefits did they get? Glamour has a place in fashion, but it can't be the central focus. You need to invite [potential buyers] to your fashion show, not just the who's who of Johannesburg," Palmi says.

This is where Gibs can - and plans to - help. While Gibs has been running the odd training programme from the satellite campus, this action will now "ramp up", says Prangley.

The pinnacle will be reached when Masters of Business Administration students of Gibs, the University of Pretoria's business school, work with Kapitol designers on their business models.

The real world

"The reason we've moved here is that most of our students think Sandton and the lush lawns of Gibs (main campus in Illovo ) is the business world. There is a much bigger world out there - a gritty, dynamic world. We want our MBAs thinking of business in a dynamic sense as emerging markets become more important," Prangley says.

With SA's entrance into the Bric bloc of countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - interest in the country is increasing. The Bric members are countries deemed to be at a stage of newly advanced economic development.

"It will be real life experience for their students, and (business training) seminars for small businesses," says Rees Mann, Fashion District Institute acting director.

"(Gibs's) presence here will mean we can use their skills, expertise and students to upgrade emerging designers. Gibs thinks out of the box," Mann says.

Economic mountains

In some ways the fashion district that the Johannesburg Development Agency started working on back in 1996 brings Africa's economic hub full circle.

This is a point that was underlined by former AngloGold CEO Bobby Godsell when he spoke at the launch of the new campus.

The garment industry was one of the two "mountains" that made Johannesburg Africa's economic hub, Godsell said.

"Johannesburg has an odd origin. There is no geographic reason for it to exist.... The obvious reason is that some lucky man stubbed his toe and found some gold back in 1881....

"Johannesburg is a place people come to to realise their dreams, to get rich. That is not a bad thing to do, to take your own experience and make it better for your kids."

The city's textile industry, now badly affected by the recession and, before that, by imported clothing and textiles, was started in the 1930s to help South Africans weather the Great Depression, Godsell said.

To really reignite it will take some out-of-the-box thinking.

Source: Business Day