Judge Mervyn King opens Rhodes Business Forum


Judge Mervyn King will be opening the next Rhodes Investec Business School’s (RIBS) Business Forum. He will speak on the “Transient Caretakers – Making Life on Earth Sustainable”.

The Business Forums which, according to Professor Owen Skae, are aimed at providing a platform for MBA students and the Grahamstown community to engage with distinguished business people, who are thought leaders, takes place on Friday 5 March 2010, at the Eden Grove Blue Lecture Theatre, Rhodes University, at 18h30.

Judge King, an internationally recognised corporate governance and sustainability expert, is a visiting Professor at the School and will be spending some time with the 2010 MBA class looking at the 'Principles of Sustainability'.

Mervyn King, who consults and advises on corporate legal issues, is a founding member of the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa who served for some eight years as the South African judge at the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris. He has acted as an Inspector of Companies and a Commissioner of Inquiries into the affairs of companies.

He has spoken at conferences and lectured on corporate issues in 38 countries and is a regular speaker on radio and television talk shows and ran his own television series, “King on Governance”.

RIBS holds one Business Forum during each of the MBA teaching block per annum. Dr Reuel Khoza, Non Executive Chairman of Nedbank and a Visiting Professor, as well as Tony Lankester, CEO of the National Arts Festival, were the other guest speakers.

The next guest speaker for the 4th Business Forum has already been chosen - Thomas Orr from Standard Bank. Orr recently returned from Beijing where he studied and worked for the past five years. Orr will be speaking on 19 April. His topic: 'Making sense of China's rise: Opportunities and Challenges for South African businesses’.

“We like to have people who can talk with knowledge and experience on leadership and sustainability issues, but also on cutting edge and topical issues that impact on South African business imperatives.” said Prof Skae when asked how they choose their guest speakers.