Dr. Lindiwe Nqobile Kunene, popularly known as Malindi, is an academic in Entrepreneurship and Management at UKZN, with a strong national and international publication record. She holds a CBA (Certified Business Advisor) for the SADEC region under IBASA (Institute of Business Advisors Southern Africa). Her expertise lies in African Entrepreneurship and small organisation governance, from practical application to education. She serves in the UKZN Medical Aid Board as Deputy Chairperson. She is the outgoing Chairperson for KUMISA-KZN Music Association, which is set up for the economic development and infrastructure of the music industry in KZN. She was among the select academics in Africa chosen to assist the UN, AU, and the Japanese government in devising solutions for youth entrepreneurship on the continent. As the former inaugural Convener for Student Entrepreneurship at EDHE, an initiative focused on entrepreneurship development for South African higher education students, she has played a pivotal role in developing and institutionalising Entrepreneurship Intention development in all 27 Universities in South Africa. She designs entrepreneurship curricula, teaches in the field, supervises postgraduate students to PhD level, conducts research, and advises on Student entrepreneurship policy and practice at UKZN. She holds an NRF Grant (National Research Foundation) for Enterprise Supply Development, a key component of SMME and Entrepreneurship Development in South Africa for corporates and parastatals, an area she consults in through her consultancy, LNK Africa. She is also working on research on curriculum design for the teaching and learning of entrepreneurship in isiZulu to increase the reach of Entrepreneurship Intention in communities that are Zulu-speaking titled, isiZulu Pedagogies for Entrepreneurship Education. All these play a pivotal role in her latest work, a software development project called ‘The SMME Hub’ to monitor SMME functional strategies, identifying gaps and providing customised solutions.
