The Enterprise Systems Education For Africa (ESEFA) project is developing a unique case study as part of its vision to roll out Enterprise Systems education in South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Mauritius, Zambia, Uganda, Ghana, Angola and Namibia in 2014, and in other Sub-Saharan countries thereafter.

Some of the existing SAP University Alliances (SAP UA) curriculum which is based on a fictitious model company – Global Bike Inc. (GBI) - is being adapted to give it an African context and make it easier to understand than previous Eurocentric learning materials.

Karin Reissenauer (ESEFA project manager at UCT Information Systems Department) says “We are going to incorporate a video of how a bicycle company operates into the Business Processes module, and have chosen Zambikes, based in Lusaka, Zambia, as our real-life model company. This will give students a context which is easy to relate to when learning about Enterprise Systems theory.” Zambikes is known globally for their custom handcrafted bamboo frames and the making of 1 bamboo bike = 5 jobs in Zambia.

Gwamaka Mwalemba, UCT Lecturer in Information Systems and ESEFA project team member, travelled to Lusaka with Karin in early February to meet the Zambikes team and visit the factory and administration offices. Gwamaka, who will be writing the storyboard for the video shoot at Zambikes (planned for early March) said, “It was a great experience meeting the Zambikes team – the whole journey was a huge learning experience not only in terms of understanding and seeing in action the core values upon which Zambikes was founded, but also the contribution they are making to society, their motto being “not only building bikes but changing lives” which synchronizes so perfectly with the overall objectives of the ESEFA programme.”