Bridging the gap between varsity and

the working worlds of Finance and

Consulting

2023/2024 ANNUAL WISOC

REPORT

Prepared by:
Moreblessing Semela (Chairperson)

Busisiwe Mathe (Deputy Chairperson)

Dzuni Ngobeni (Treasurer)

Ikamva Labane (Secretary)

Lesedi Ntshiea (Head of Social Media & Marketing)

Thelma Gadama (Head of Events & Project Management)

Augustine Ledwaba (Interim Head of Corporate Relations and Investment)

For:
Student Governance Office
The Matrix Building, 3rd
 Floor
Braamfontein Campus East, Johannesburg
TABLE OF CONTENTS
OVERVIEW................................................................................................................................................1
Vision............................................................................................................................................................1
Mission.........................................................................................................................................................1
Strategy.........................................................................................................................................................1
Values...........................................................................................................................................................1
2024 SUMMARY........................................................................................................................................1
Membership & Revenue Growth..................................................................................................................1
Value-add to students...................................................................................................................................1
Highlights......................................................................................................................................................1
Lowlights.......................................................................................................................................................2
2023/2024 Points of Action..........................................................................................................................2
Things to Look Forward to in 2024...............................................................................................................3
TREASURY REPORT....................................................................................................................................2
Goals/Expectations.......................................................................................................................................2
Actual Results...............................................................................................................................................2
Help and Hinderances...................................................................................................................................2
Improvements...............................................................................................................................................2
Final Comment..............................................................................................................................................2
SOCIAL MARKETING AND MARKETING REPORT.........................................................................................3
Goals Upon Starting the Role........................................................................................................................3
Achievement of the Goals............................................................................................................................3
What Helped the Achievement.................................................................................................................3
What Hindered the Achievement..............................................................................................................3
What Can Be Improved Within the Executive Organization At WISOC/SGO.................................................4
EVENTS AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT REPORT.........................................................................................5
About............................................................................................................................................................5
Objectives.....................................................................................................................................................5
Whether or Not Goals Were Achieved.........................................................................................................5
Things that Can be Improved........................................................................................................................5
Organizing An Event......................................................................................................................................5
EVENTS AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT REPORT.........................................................................................5
About............................................................................................................................................................5
Objectives.....................................................................................................................................................5
Whether or Not Goals Were Achieved.........................................................................................................5
Things that Can be Improved........................................................................................................................5
Organizing An Event......................................................................................................................................5
2024 MEMBERSHIP FEES...........................................................................................................................7
REQUESTS OF CONSIDERATION FOR THE SGO...........................................................................................7
OVERVIEW
By Ikamva Labane

The Wits Investment Society aims to bridge skill and competency gaps between university and the
working worlds of Finance and Consulting.

Vision
Develop well-informed leaders in Financial Services and Consulting.

Mission
Enhance Wits students’ careers by bridging skill and competency gaps.

Strategy
Collaborate with institutions, alumni, and entrepreneurs in Financial and Consulting spaces to
provide students with the necessary skills, opportunities, and information needed to transition
from academia into the corporate arena.

Values
- Degree Agnosticism & Diversity
- Collaboration
- Creativity & Innovation
- Curiosity & Corporate Awareness
- Professional Development

2024 SUMMARY
By Ikamva Labane

Membership & Revenue Growth

- 30.62% Year-on-Year membership growth (from 258 sign ups to 337)**
o **99 of the 258 sign ups from 2022 were unable to register on self-service
o **12 of the 337 sign ups from 2023 were unable to register on self-service
- 104.4% Year-on-Year Self-Service sign-up revenue growth (R15 900 to R32 500).
Value-add to students
- Our Jobs and Bursaries Board shared over 100 (103 at the time of writing) career and
funding opportunities
- A variety of insightful events were hosted throughout the year
Highlights
- Consolidation of our consulting value delivery arm with the Wits Consulting Club
- Partnership with BetaOne, the University of Pretoria’s Investment Society
- Our Jobs and Bursaries Board
- A complete overhaul of our Sub Committee Organisational Structure – introducing the
following dedicated Project Management portfolios:

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 o Corporate Finance and Investment Club
o Wits Consulting Club
o Financial Literacy and Personal Finance
o Professional Development
o Newsletter, Current Affairs, and Podcast
o Social Impact, Recreation, and Mental Health
o Jobs and Bursaries
- First full-on in-person O-Week marketing campaign since COVID
- Banners… we finally have banners and they’ve made a NOTABLE branding difference to our
events and marketing
- 30% Year-on-Year membership increase (helping us achieve 300+ membership for the first
time in recent memory)
- Corporate Partnerships with the following firms (in alphabetical order)
o Anura Partners
o Bain and Company
o BCG
o ComfortGirls NPC
o JPMorgan
o Kearney
o McKinsey
o Monocle Solutions
o Oliver Wyman
o Quantium
o Shy-Red Studios
o University of Michigan

Lowlights
- A limited budget. We weren’t able to host the types of events we would have liked and as
often
- Not a single Newsletter or Podcast was released
- Our membership didn’t crack the 400 mark yet there are thousands of students to whom
WISOC is relevant
- A lack of Career Literacy Culture across the university
- A few event plans with corporate guests that didn’t come to fruition
- Some firms have noted that certain university departments/channels stifle their efforts at
building effective relationships with potential talent. Some have bluntly told us “your
University is hard to work with”.
- Noting that some firms would rather travel to Cape Town (UCT) to engage with potential
graduates – we are so close to the hub of Corporate south Africa, yet not a universal
preference for some multinational firms

2023/2024 Points of Action

- Host more in-person engagements with our members and improve our presence on Campus
- Stick to our vision, mission, strategy, values, and organisational structure

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 - Targeted hiring of people with specific operational skills (like content creation,
videography, etc) and interests is key to us delivering value more effectively and
consistently
- Better planning around Professional Development deliverables from the relevant Project
Management portfolio
- Better delivery from our Corporate Finance and Investment Club, Financial Literacy and
Personal Finance portfolio, as well as our Newsletters, Current Affairs, and Podcast
offerings
- Continue sharing opportunities through our Jobs and Bursaries Board
- Diversify the mediums through which we share educational content beyond written formats
- Have a better presence on campus during O-Week
- Consolidate corporate partnerships and leverage them into monetary/material sponsorships
- Establish more channels of collaboration with other Wits CSOs and Student Councils
- PLAN 2024’s deliverables in 2023

Things to Look Forward to in 2024

- A brand-new Executive Committee coming in with fresh energy, untainted perspective, and
improvement-focused ideas.
- In 2024, WISOC shall again be on hand to share career opportunities, guides, and related
information.

Thank You to the Committee

I would like to extend a vote of thanks to the following committee members (listed in alphabetical
order) for their contributions during the 2022/2023 term
- Busisiwe Mathe - Malesela Seletela - Rayne Schlachter
- Emihle Tshangana - Mamello Khene - Rorisang Rasegoete
- Hlamalani Mohlaba - Mammotsa - Solofelang Maubane
- Itumeleng Mabotse Makhene - Tatenda Chimhau
- Katlego Tau - Masibonge Ngcobo - Thabang Lehobo
- Ketanya Chetty - Mmabore Mabilo - Thabiso Dlamini
- Khumo Morife - Moreblessing - Thato Nong
- Kuhle Ogbonna Semela - Unam Sityata
- Lilitha Nduna - Nonyameko - Warren Masombuka
- Londani Msimang Mxathule - Zahraa Hoosen
- Makgwale Selatola - Phuti Mogoba

Vote of Thanks to the SGO

A big thank you to Mr Wiseman Khumalo, Ms Hakima Dean, and Ms Shun Mamafa for being
lynchpins in the CSO ecosystem – enabling the opportunity for students to interact with one
another, experiences, and opportunities that are otherwise not available in “the classroom”.

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TREASURY REPORT
By Emihle Tshangana

Goals/Expectations
- The main goal for 2023 was to ensure optimal fund allocation and usage. The goal was for
there to be enough funds throughout the year to fully be able to support WISOC projects
and initiatives.

Actual Results
- Majority, if not all requests, were able to be honoured and portfolios could receive the
resources they needed to make their events a success.

Help and Hinderances

- There are some vendors who are not as active on email or cell/telephone which can make
it a challenge to get quotes in time, especially given that SGO can only start processing
requests received during working hours.
- However, a positive is that SGO is generally fast with processing of requests to internal
Wits vendors, within 48 hours, and can in rare cases also process within 24 hours which
helps in emergency cases.
- Nevertheless, ordering from Makro can be a challenge due to
o how long it takes for a Makro request to be processed (up to two weeks)
o even if successful with the order, deliveries can only happen on certain days which
can slow things down again as Makro typically has a lot of items that are needed for
event

Improvements
- There is CSO Induction beginning of the year but given that then the subcommittee and
sometimes even the executive isn’t finalised, a WISOC induction document upon
initialisation of the committee may be useful to ensure even those that missed the
induction are aware and understand the process so as to avoid situations where they can’t
get/order something because they weren’t aware of the procedure.

Final Comment
- All in all, I believe things went well this year (as you can see there was not much I had to
say) and want to thank everyone for being so wonderful to work with and for all the great
work done. It has been a pleasure and all the best as we finish this year and for the year to
come.

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SOCIAL MARKETING AND MARKETING REPORT
By Ketanya Chetty

Goals Upon Starting the Role

The main objective was to increase overall engagement on WISOC’s platforms by garnering
genuine interest into the society and avoiding information overload on our pages – specifically
relevant to Instagram, which, aside from WhatsApp, is the platform we would have had foremost
exposure to our primary target audience (university students).
LinkedIn, as the primary for corporate partnerships and WISOC’s professional image, was also
envisioned to become more active, enticing the business world into seeing the society as a place
to integrate with. This was aimed to filter in more opportunities for students, and curate a
narrative where corporations are inspired by our work to bridge the career literacy gap between
students and a professional setting.
TikTok would also begin as a casual, more relatable mode to connect with members and non-
members. These would also be shared via Instagram Reels and, once implemented, via YouTube
Shorts. Regarding YouTube, “day in the life” vlogs, relevant info-videos and WISOC’s W.T.F podcast
was also planned for the platform.
Instagram was additionally planned to hold far more engagement within Stories – from polls on
debates/relevant affairs to Q&As about our hosted events. Information overload within the feed
would be avoided by following a clean aesthetic/theme via carousel posts.

Achievement of the Goals

While we did achieve the above in some sense (our pages did garner interest through individual
post designs, as well as seeing an increase in engagement and interaction), it came at the expense
of the overall aesthetic and image, risking the information overload we were trying to avoid from
previous years. On top of this, due to time and ability constraints, we could not conduct most of
what was planned for all platforms.
What Helped the Achievement
- Interesting designs of individual posts creating buzz, from within and outside of Wits.
- Creating a division of duties within the team, so certain members are responsible for
certain platforms.
- Having a schedule of posts to plan “when to do what”.
- Hosting designs on a Google Drive, for the designers to organize order/vision of posting.
What Hindered the Achievement
- Time constraints, especially with many last-minute scheduling of important events/events
with guests.
- Manpower constraints, in the sense of availability and ability, leaving 1 or 2 members to do
the work of many (especially difficult during assessment periods for said members).
- Unclear initial responsibilities, with the team spending much more time than necessary
understanding the role earlier in the year.

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What Can Be Improved Within the Executive Organization At WISOC/SGO
In terms of the executive organization in a broad sense, I believe the committee worked quite well
together. Things can be tightened within the portfolio managers and teams, which can be tackled
at the interview phase or through quarterly check-ins. But between executive members, I have no
concerns.
For Social Media & Marketing especially, a role spec (along with their vision for our social media)
discussed in the interview phase would be helpful for whoever takes on the role, specifically
addressing:
- Design capabilities – members must be willing to not only brainstorm ideas, but bring them
to fruition.
- Willingness to take on the role – as we are all university students, it is definitely a
demanding workload to be in charge of all communication. While this is an extracurricular,
members should understand they are expected to perform tasks to a sufficient decree.
- It might be helpful for the Social Media Head to be involved in selection of the Social Media
team as well, to brief them on specific plans before they join the team.

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EVENTS AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT REPORT
By Thabiso Dlamini

About
The WISOC Events and Project Management committee’s responsibilities encompass a wide range
of crucial tasks that directly impact the organization’s success and growth. The primary objective is
to meticulously plan, execute, and oversee various events and projects aligned with the society’s
core objectives. This includes organizing workshops and seminars to educate members about
investment strategies, the world of consulting and financial markets etc. The responsibility also
extends to managing the logistics of these events, such as venue booking, catering, audiovisual
equipment and guest speaker coordination, ensuring a seamless and engaging experience for
attendees.

Objectives
The goals the committee sought to achieve from the beginning of the year are:
1. Member engagement – Fostering a sense of belonging and active participation among
society members by creating events that resonate with their interests and needs.
2. Strategic Planning – Developing a comprehensive annual plan outlining the events we
intend to execute, complete with timelines, budgets and expected outcomes.

Whether or Not Goals Were Achieved

I believe that the team and I were able to achieve these objectives to the best of our capabilities.
There was low engagement from members of the society. What could have hindered your
portfolio from achieving set goals. One of the problems that we encountered was that
communicating with some SGO members was a struggle.

Things that Can be Improved

1. An induction for members of this committee would be imperative so that when it’s time to
organize events, they don’t have to go through the time-consuming process of learning-by-
doing.
2. Organize an event at the beginning of the year to expose the society to potential/existing
members.
3. Buying a projector and white screen would save costs.
4. Have one member of the Social Media team in the Events and Project Management
WhatsApp to make communication between the two committees seamless.
5. Organize merchandise for society members as a way of fundraising.
To incoming committee members
Organizing An Event
1. Secure a venue (venues you can use are SHB3 and John Moffat A1).
2. After the venue has been confirmed, you’ll have to secure IT help for audio and visual
equipment. If the event takes place after 17h00, you’ll have to pay for overtime (all this
needs to be done 3 days before the event).
3. Purchase refreshments for guests and attendees (you’ll be given a list of all the catering
services you can use)

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4. Set up an RSVP link (google forms) to gauge the number of attendees and refreshments
needed.
5. Ensure that at least one member of the committee is present on the day of the event to
check if all runs smoothly.
**Note that events can only take place @13h00-14h00 and after 17h00, and not a
week before exams commence.

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2024 MEMBERSHIP FEES
Membership R150
T-Shirt N/A
Other N/A

REQUESTS OF CONSIDERATION FOR THE SGO

1. A facility for non-Wits students to sign up and pay for WISOC membership, this will be a
net- benefit for both the CSO and the university as it will broaden our income base
2. May the sign-up window kindly be extended so that students are able to sign up
throughout the year.