New at MCI: Herman Mashaba Scholarship

Once again MCI | The Entrepreneurial School^® strengthens its international ties and outreach. Together with the South African start-up entrepreneur, reformer and statesman Herman Mashaba, the brand-new "Herman Mashaba Scholarship" is launched to support students from South Africa in their master’s studies at MCI in Innsbruck/Austria.

The attractive scholarship is aimed at students who distinguish themselves through previous academic achievements as well as committed study and career goals around entrepreneurship, social development and good governance. Raised in poverty and as a half-orphan, Herman Mashaba quickly became one of South Africa's most successful entrepreneurs with cult status also in other countries as well by founding a hair care products company with the famous brand “Black like me”.

From 2016 to 2019, he was mayor of the economic metropolis of Johannesburg, elected at the first attempt and representing the second biggest political party in South Africa, with a coalition government of 7 parties. On announcement of his resignation before the expire of his term as mayor, South Africans urged him to start his own political movement. On 29 August 2020, ActionSA was launched and is now ready to participate in the upcoming Provincial and National Elections in 2024, with the determination in fighting corruption, crime and social inequality, reforming the economy and integrating South Africa into the democratic Western world.

Several personal lectures, online live talks and workshops with students at MCI, as well as an acclaimed appearance at the South Tyrolean Economic Forum 2023 reflect Herman Mashaba's long-standing friendship with the Entrepreneurial School^® in Innsbruck, which will deepen even further through the new scholarship.

MCI Rector Andreas Altmann: "Herman Mashaba stands for what the MCI is also committed to: Research, education, innovation and entrepreneurship coupled with social commitment and responsibility. Against this backdrop, the realization of the Hermann Mashaba Scholarship fills us with great pride and we are delighted to support and collaborate with this great personality who refuses to accept existing conditions.

Herman Mashaba, entrepreneur, reformer, statesman: "With the MCI, an extraordinary university has come into being, which is also perceived outside Europe and regarded as exemplary. Reinterpreting research, education, innovation and social development, building international bridges and using them for the benefit of the location and its people, succeeds here in an impressive way. That is why it is with great pleasure that I am committed to the now scholarship."