Testing the Application of the Integral AQAL Model in Entrepreneurial Coaching in South African Business Incubators

Objective: Despite significant investment in entrepreneurial coaching in South Africa, the failure rate of small businesses remains high. This empirical study addresses this issue by creating an effective entrepreneurial coaching framework with the help of business incubators, entrepreneurs, coaches, and industry experts. Research Design & Methods: The study used a quantitative cross-sectional design, with a questionnaire distributed to 296 entrepreneurs and statistical analysis performed using SPSS and STATA software. Findings: The findings support the AQAL model of Ken Wilber in how the entrepreneurial outcomes relate to each other. The findings also align with the literature's emphasis on relationship building as a key factor for business growth, with relationship building emerging as the only statistically significant predictor of business growth. Implications and Recommendations: Relationship building should be prioritised over other coaching outcomes, such as self-efficacy, entrepreneurial resilience, and visionary skills, by entrepreneur development practitioners. Contribution & Value Added: These findings have implications for entrepreneurial coaches, policymakers, and professional bodies, urging them to understand entrepreneurs' contexts, take a systemic approach to entrepreneurial coaching, and provide guidance on industry developments and best practices. It is expected that by implementing these recommendations, the proposed entrepreneurial coaching framework will contribute to better outcomes for entrepreneurs and their incubated businesses

Family planning methods among women in a vaginal microbicide feasibility study in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

This study investigated contraceptive use among women in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Of 866 sexually active women not intending pregnancy and screened for a microbicide feasibility study, 466 (54%) reported currently using modern contraceptives: injectables (31%), condoms (12%), sterilization (60%) and pills (4%). Multivariable logistic regression analyses revealed statistically significantly higher odds of current contraceptive use among married vs. engaged/unmarried women (aOR 1.64), multiparous vs. nulliparous (aOR 4.45) and women who completed secondary education or above vs. primary or less (aOR 1.64). Significantly lower odds of use were observed among women aged 40+ vs. age 15-19 (aOR 0.38). Age, marital status, education level and parity were associated with different contraceptive method choices. Among 195 women followed longitudinally for 9 months, contraceptive use increased significantly from 56% to 70%, largely due to increased condom use (15% to 28%). Results highlight the importance of integrating family planning and HIV/STI prevention counseling and informing promotion of further contraceptive uptake among women not intending pregnancy

The Perceived Applicability of Coaching Skills among Human Resource Business Partners of South African State-Owned Entities

Objective: HRBPs working in the State-owned entity (SOE) industry face a few challenges that inhibit them from being true partners to senior management teams. This research concentrated on whether coaching skills could be included in the Human Resource Business Partner (HRBP) competency model and assist HRBPS in their engagement with senior managers. Research Design & Methods: A qualitative research design was selected to gain insights from the perspectives of HRBPs employed in SOEs in Gauteng, South Africa. All participants had over two years of relevant HRBP experience and participated in a semi-structured interview to solicit their perspectives. The data was consequently analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: The key findings are that the SOE industry is complex to navigate due to the high levels of red tape and capacity constraints. The benefits of coaching, which include enhanced levels of organisational performance and leadership self-awareness, will be achieved in the engagement between HRBPs and senior managers. Furthermore, additional training of all HRBPs on the proposed coaching skills was supported as it was found to be a probable solution to re-position HRBPs as strategic business partners. Contribution & Value Added: This paper positions coaching as a central skill for HRBPs, specifically in the SOE environment in South Africa, by combining two leading competency frameworks, the Ulrich and GSAEC competency frameworks. Although HR is an established field, coaching is relatively emerging with limited frameworks for the profession. This paper addresses the need for guiding frameworks where the two professions intersect

The Influence of Experience and Owner-Managers Education on SME Performance: Case of Motor Spares Enterprises at Kelvin Light Industries in Bulawayo

The continued failure of small to medium enterprises and lack of growth of those that survive, continue to pose some challenges to the Zimbabwean economy. Lack of experience and education by ownermanagers of SMEs, is one of the major challenges impeding their survival and growth. The study sought to establish the influence of experience and owner-managers education on SME performance specifically focusing on motor spares SMEs at Kelvin Light Industries in Bulawayo.  The objective of this study, therefore, was to analyse the relationship between experience and owner-managers education and the performance of SMEs. The descriptive research design was employed in this study. The researcher adopted stratified sampling technique supported by simple random technique to select participants from the population. Closed-ended questionnaires were used to collect data from owner-managers operating at Kelvin Light Industries. SPSS version 20 was used to analyse and present the data. The results of the study showed that there was a strong relationship between both education and experience of owner-managers on SME performance. The researcher recommends that owner-managers should continuously receive training on how to run and manage their SMEs. Owner-managers should employ human capital on merit which would give them a competitive advantage in business.  &nbsp

Promoting quality education by addressing ethical challenges in high school football at circuit level in Durban, South Africa

The sport of football, also commonly referred to as soccer in South Africa, has become a socio-cultural phenomenon and its popularity manifests itself in school football. The study aimed to identify ethical challenges in high school football at circuit level in Durban, South Africa, in order to promote quality education. A phenomenological paradigm, drawing on a qualitative research approach, was used. A purposive sample of 16 high school football coaches and administrators from a particular region, or circuit, were selected to participate in this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. All interviews were recorded and transcribed for analysis, and an inductive approach was used to identify patterns in the collected data by employing thematic analysis. Age cheating and identity document fraud were perceived as the leading ways unethical leadership in the circuit facilitates cheating. The study also found that the environment in which school football operates in the circuit is not conducive to promoting ethical leadership. This study highlighted that governmental structures should focus on ethics and leadership in school football, thereby ensuring quality education. This study has shown that ethical leadership is a key contributor to the holistic development and socialisation of learners

The Impact of the Buy Zimbabwe Campaign on Performance of Zimbabwean Companies in the Retail Sector

Abstract: The majority of the Zimbabwean retail companies were in the collapsing mode over the past ten years. This miserable predicament necessitated the government to craft locally-driven remedies, and one of them was the Buy Zimbabwe campaign. This prompted the researcher to assess the impact of the “Buy Zimbabwe†campaign on the performance of the Zimbabwean firms. The study objectives were to establish the impact of “buy Zimbabwe†campaign on demand for local products and factors affecting demand for local products. Furthermore to establish if a company participating in the “buy Zimbabwe†campaign performs better than non-participating firms, earnings per Share was used in the inter-firm performance comparison. The descriptive research design was employed, although the research was both quantitative and qualitative in nature. The classical linear multiple regression analysis was used to establish and explain the relationship between company performances. The results indicated a positive linear relationship between “buy Zimbabwe†campaign and company performance in case of those that adopted Buy Zimbabwe, whereas in case of those that did not adopt Buy Zimbabwe there was a negative linear relationship. The results also discloses that quality and affordability of the product are the most influential factors affect demand for local products and buy Zimbabwe campaign was regarded as the least factor to be considered by consumers. Results from this study point towards the need to put in place supportive policies for the “buy Zimbabwe†campaign to be effective. Keywords: Buy Zimbabwe, retail sector, local products, competitiveness, customer loyalt

The role of DNA methylation in transcriptional regulation of the human type 1 alpha 2 collagen (COL1A2) gene

Bibliography leaves 70-97.Type I collagen is the most abundant collagen molecule in vertebrate connective tissue and it consists of a heterotrimer of two alpha 1 (COL1A1) and one alpha 2 (COL1A2) chains. Reduced collagen gene expression is almost always correlated with pathological conditions and cellular transformation. Numerous studies have suggested that methylation of the cytosines in CpG dinucleotides is inversely correlated with transcriptional activity and plays a critical role in differential gene expression

Has doha achieved its mandate regarding access to essential medicines? a developing world’s perspective

Magister Legum - LL

Presentation patterns of invasive cancer of the cervix: results from Parirenyatwa Oncology and Radiotherapy Centre, Harare, Zimbabwe 1998-2010

A research paper on cancer of the cervix in Zimbabwe.Cancer of the uterine cervix is the second most common cancer among women worldwide with a high incidence in Sub-Saharan Africa.1 In developing countries such as Zimbabwe invasive cancer of the cervix (CaCx) is the most common cancer in females and also the leading cause of cancer related deaths in women.2 The American Cancer Society3 estimated that 12.710 million new cases of invasive CaCx were going to be diagnosed in 2011 and about 4.290 million women were going to die with invasive CaCx. The same author reported that there is a significant decrease in incidence and mortality rate of invasive CaCx in developed countries over the past three decades as compared to the developing countries. This was attributed to available options of disease prevention with the possibility of early diagnosis of the disease due to effective screening and accessibility to effective treatment procedures in developed countries. To this end it has been noted that women living in developed countries have a 208% greater chance of being successfully treated when compared with women in less developed countries

Effect of priming regimes on seed germination of field crops

Germination, early emergence and stand establishment of crops are major yield determining factors in semi-arid and arid rainfed areas. Farmers in marginal and low input areas tend to have poor germination due to poor and shallow soils. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of priming regimes on seed germination of field crops. A study was conducted at Lupane State University, Biotechnology Laboratory in 2019. Treatments included seed priming techniques, namely hydropriming, halopriming (2% NaCl solution) osmopriming (10% PEG 6000), and solid matrix priming (18% volume/weight sand); and timing at 6, 12, 24 hours for maize and 2, 4, 6 hours for cowpea, sorghum and millet. Solid matrix priming, followed by hydropriming significantly (P<0.05) improved germination parameters (germination percentage, daily germination, peak value and germination speed) of all crops. Halopriming and osmopriming were similar in their ineffectiveness, and resulted in the least germination parameter values. Six hour solid matrix priming in 18% v/w sand was the most effective method among most crops; suggesting that solid matrix priming is an effective and possibly low cost technology, with potential to improve germination of field crops.La germination, l\u2019\ue9mergence pr\ue9coce et l\u2019\ue9tablissement des peuplements sont des facteurs d\ue9terminants du rendement dans les zones pluviales semi-arides et arides. Les agriculteurs des zones marginales et \ue0 faible apport ont tendance \ue0 avoir une mauvaise germination en raison de sols pauvres et peu profonds. L\u2019objectif de cette \ue9tude \ue9tait d\u2019\ue9valuer l\u2019effet des r\ue9gimes d\u2019amor\ue7age sur la germination des semences des cultures de champs. Une \ue9tude a \ue9t\ue9 faite \ue0 Lupane State University, laboratoire de biotechnologie en 2019. Les traitements comprenaient des techniques d\u2019amor\ue7age des semences, \ue0 savoir l\u2019hydroprimage, l\u2019halopriming (solution \ue0 2% de NaCl), l\u2019osmopriming (10% PEG 6000) et l\u2019amor\ue7age \ue0 matrice solide (18% volume / poids de sable) ; et chronom\ue9trage \ue0 6, 12, 24 heures pour le ma\uefs et 2, 4, 6 heures pour le ni\ue9b\ue9, le sorgho et le mil. L\u2019amor\ue7age de la matrice solide, suivi de l\u2019hydropriming, a significativement am\ue9lior\ue9 (P <0,05) les param\ue8tres de germination (pourcentage de germination, germination quotidienne, valeur maximale et vitesse de germination) de toutes les cultures. L\u2019halopriming et l\u2019osmopriming \ue9taient similaires dans leur inefficacit\ue9 et ont donn\ue9 les valeurs de param\ue8tres de germination les moins \ue9lev\ue9es. L\u2019amor\ue7age de la matrice solide sur six heures dans du sable \ue0 18% v / w \ue9tait la m\ue9thode la plus efficace parmi la plupart des cultures; sugg\ue9rant que l\u2019amor\ue7age \ue0 matrice solide est une technologie efficace et peut-\ueatre \ue0 faible co\ufbt, avec un potentiel pour am\ue9liorer la germination des cultures de champs