Vitas Argimon

Cooperation with university staff

The cooperation with the lecturers and the staff at TSIBA was very successful and satisfactory. I was welcomed on my first day by TSIBA team and colleagues on site and could test the facilities and lecturing rooms. In addition to that we prepared the Monday seminar on balance sheet management that was taking place at external facilities. I also met with the new Dean and briefly with the CEO during my time there. I was also very privileged to being invited at the TSIBA graduation ceremony on my last day and paid tribute to which was a great surprise to me. I also had two lovely dinners with university staff who went the extra mile to treat me well – I was able to meet the university dean and had a wonderful dinner talking about geopolitics with him. There was also a special surprise on my birthday done by the university staff which ordered tea and cake for the class ; I was very grateful and thankful for that.

Cooperation with students

I have been blessed having a group of very talented students throughout my stay at TSIBA; they engaged very actively during class and all shared their experiences as mentees to SME’s in South African companies. We usually would start the class by discussing a Case Study relevant to them (i.e. South African SME), continue by some theory refresher before doing one or two small exercises. I also engaged the students in some group simulations and exercises (i.e. business game in pairs) and made them do two presentations during the class – i.e. on cash flow management and a teaser to present their start-up to potential investors.

At the Monday seminar I met a different group of students who came from start-ups incubators and all showed energy and passion into the balance sheet topic. We had a nice informal lunch and coffee before and after the workshop while exchanging on the importance of financing for SME’s and also the general topic of financial literacy that remains a huge challenge in South Africa.

Impact and win-win

I received very positive feedbacks from students at the end of the week and was pleased to see they liked a focus on my real-life examples and less so on theory. In the end it was key that I was able to share with them several anecdotes to illustrate small entrepreneurial finance theory. I was pleased to see that several novices to corporate finance quickly got into it after day one and two and performed extremely well until the end of the week. In terms of win-win, I would highlight the knowledge I gained on the South African economy and small businesses. I got to realize what a wonderful country it is with an enormous potential for growth and high talents.   

Memorable Event

There are two memorable events from my second year at TSIBA that I would like to highlight in this report – firstly, the feedback received when we closed the course where the students all gave me some local gifts so I would have some South African souvenirs. Secondly, I would highlight the TSIBA graduation ceremony which was a beautiful and unique yearly occasion to attend. I saw the energy and passion that everyone there puts in this event as students earned their degree after 3 years of studying and efforts. I also had the surprise of meeting also my students from last year who were getting their postgraduate degree. Hearing a beautifully sung national anthem and two very well written keynote speeches made it a great occasion. I would also like to highlight all the pictures we took with the students after the ceremony and the celebration that took place.

Personal message

I would like to thank B360 and Credit Suisse for giving me the opportunity for the past two years of going to Cape Town and meeting such great and nice people. It has been for me an unforgettable experience while this will encourage me to continue with such teaching programs in the future. I also could improve my presentation skills and could learn from a very diverse group of student entrepreneurs!

Thank you so much for the great opportunity!