The University of Mpumalanga (UMP) has been crowned the overall winner of Enactus South Africa 2025, held in Sandton, Johannesburg on 17 July 2025. UMP will proceed to represent South Africa at the 2025 Enactus World Cup taking place from September 26-28 in Bangkok, Thailand.
The Founding Vice-Chancellor of UMP, Prof. Thoko Mayekiso was awarded the Enactus South Africa Champion Award for her extraordinary leadership, unwavering passion, and commitment to the Enactus movement. In the history of Enactus, this award has only been awarded on five occasions and previous recipients include Dr Patrice Motsepe. Since 2014, Prof Mayekiso has led UMP with a clear vision rooted in transformation, innovation, and social impact.
Enactus is a global student organisation that empowers young people to use entrepreneurial action to create positive social and environmental impact in their communities. The UMP team won the competition ahead of SA leading Universities with Wits obtaining position number 2, followed by UCT at number 3 and NMU at position number 4.
“This is heart-warming moment, the UMP ENACTUS continue to make us proud. Our Enactus team have set the bar very high, and they have demonstrated that our students are some of the best in our country. Their success serves as inspiration to all of us at UMP as we fully understand that when a member of the UMP community does well, the university at large benefits and the UMP brand gets enhanced._” _said UMP Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Thoko Mayekiso
Reacting to this historic achievement, UMP Enactus Coordinator and Associate Professor of Economics, Professor Ferdinand Niyimbanira said, “Firstly, we would like to thank the management of the University for their continued support over the years. To be recognised in such competitive championship is a true honour, and we are thrilled to have crowned the overall winner of Enactus South Africa 2025. This is a testament to our hard work, dedication, and innovative spirit of our team. It validates our approach, values, and commitment to excellence.”
The UMP ENACTUS Team which has won 48 trophies since participating in the national competition in 2017.