Welcome to MBALI International Conference 2024

The MBALI organising committee heralds a new era for the conference, an era where the growing pains of a fledgling event has now become a world class international event. MBALI has arrived, and it is you the delegates, the dignitaries, the numerous decorated luminaries who have made this possible. The MBALI brand has been built with every positive word spoken, transferred from one ear to the other, with every endorsement by someone of some import, MBALI has gained greater prominence with each whisper. More importantly, it is the MBALI loyalists who make MBALI their annual pilgrimage that are owed a debt of gratitude, as they are the greatest proponents of this conference; we as the organising committee salute you and say welcome to each and every one to MBALI 2024. The committee always promises bigger and better and this year will be no different. ABSA has come on board as sponsors of the conference once more, and we are delighted at their unwavering support of higher education especially with regard to the promotion of young researchers as they cut their teeth on a prominent academic stage. ABSA must be congratulated on its investment in the future of academia in South Africa. The theme for the conference is, African Resilience Reshaping the Global Stage: Growth, Synergy and Prospects. This theme is in keeping with the University of Zululand’s strategic focus on becoming a “Node for Africa Thought”, it is the university’s belief that Africa has to be the genesis for solutions to the challenges that we face as a continent, within Africa there is a wellspring of intelligentsia who will chart a way forward for Africa to take its rightful place as the forerunner in terms of economic growth and social development in the world. Africa will be the innovator and creator not merely the consumer, it is time for all efforts within the continent and beyond to focus on the adding of value to products and services borne from this earth. MBALI is the platform for these discourses to play out with strong academics and business leaders to steer the conversation. On behalf of the University of Zululand, the Faculty of Commerce, Administration and Law, and the MBALI steering committee I welcome you to the 2024 edition of the MBALI International Conference. Come enthusiastically, stay excitedly and leave contently.