FACULTY Q&A // Meet Associate Professor Caitlin Ferreira
Assoc Prof Ferreira chats to us about the innovation on the UCT GSB MBA, all things cases, and of course, her recent global award as MBA Director of 2026
Caitlin Ferreira is the Modular MBA Programme Director and an Associate Professor in Marketing at the Graduate School of Business University of Cape Town. Caitlin has taught across public and private institutions in South Africa and abroad in Sweden. A National Research Foundation (NRF) rated scholar, Caitlin’s research focuses on responsible marketing and the implications of emerging technologies for business and society. She is deeply passionate about positioning Africa as a source of insight for global management practice and is actively involved in developing African case studies and learning experiences that help navigate complex socio-economic challenges across the continent. Caitlin was named as the 2026 AMBA MBA Director of the Year at the AMBA and BGA Excellence Awards.
We sat down with Caitlin to discuss her latest award and what makes the MBA programme at the UCT GSB such a uniquely valuable experience. Listen in or check the transcript of the conversation below.
CWC: What do you think sets the UCT GSB MBA apart?
CF: I think this is best explained with a bit of a story. So when I work with international students I often kickstart our courses by describing SA as a complex place and as we delve into what this means we discuss SA as a place where this idea of complexity actually represents the lived experiences of many South Africans. So whether we are actually actively aware of it or not, we’ve almost become accustomed to making decisions in the face of uncertainty in many cases on a daily basis. So we navigate economic volatility, policy shifts long before any of these became topics that were discussed in boardrooms across the world. Now what we find is that type of environment breeds a particular leader and leadership skills. So when you operate under conditions of scarcity or uncertainty you really have no other option but to be innovative and in many cases to become resilient in the face of that uncertainty. If we look around us today in 2026 we are seeing a global environment that is shaped by increasing uncertainty and we are actually seeing many characteristics that have long defined leadership in an African context now becoming critically important global skills. At the GSB we intentionally build this context into the programme and for me I really believe this is what sets our MBA apart.
CWC: And in terms of the programme what’s one of the innovations that you believe we are now reaping the benefits from?
CF: On the MBA programme we often speak about this idea of impact and I think that for a single person the concept of impact can almost seem quite daunting. A few years ago we launched the Responsible Citizenship module which is designed to give students an opportunity to have a person impact that is aligned with their passion and purpose. So we require that students invest a certain number of hours throughout the duration of their programme with an NGO. We could never have anticipated how transformative this module would be for so many students. We’ve seen students create very tangible change in their communities and I don’t think this is something that’s a small feat.
CWC: What are some of the examples from this?
CF: There are so many. The first one is a group of students that were based in Zimbabwe that went through different fundraising initiatives in order to refurbish a number of basketball courts in Harare. Then another one that really stands out is a student based in Zambia who had partnered with a local prep school to launch an agricultural exposure programme and one of the key reasons he did this was to introduce students to the opportunities that were available in Zambia in the agricultural sector. So he was introducing students to fish farming or about venomous snakes.
CWC: It must be quite incredible to hear the feedback from the students?
CF: Absolutely, and I think one thing that we’ve seen coming from our students is that this notion of impact has been so powerful and many students have surprised themselves with how much they’ve been able to do and how much they’ve been able to impact the lives of those around them in just a few short hours.
CWC: What do you really love about the MBA journey from your viewpoint as faculty and seeing students from when they come in to when they finish. What is really something that you value about it?
CF: So I think if you ask anyone who has completed an MBA at the GSB, they will speak about the personal transformation journey that they went on as part of the MBA. And it’s something that I mention to students during orientation. I say things are going to change for you, you're going to start to question some long held beliefs that you’ve had, and you might start to have some uncomfortable conversations. And initially I think students look at me, say ‘yes’, and three weeks without fail I have students tell me, “I think I know what you’re talking about now, I’m starting to have different conversations at the dinner table, and I’m questioning long held values and decisions in a way that I had never thought of before". So from my perspective it’s such an honour and a privilege to help shape the journeys of students that are going to become our future leaders and it’s one that I’m incredibly grateful for.
CWC: Turning to you a little bit, can we talk a bit more about your research speciality and what trends you are seeing emerge from Africa in your field?
CF: My research focusses on responsible marketing so it sits at the intersection of marketing, technology, and sustainability. And a key theme that ties my research together is this idea of influence and what influences consumer behaviour, and the ways in which consumers are influenced by different emerging technologies, in some cases without necessarily being aware of it. So I’m one of the founding members of the Pan-African Gambling Harms Network and together we’re a group of scholars across the African continent and we’re working together to actually try and unpack how these new digital platforms are influencing the gambling behaviours of consumers across the continent.
CWC: That’s fascinating especially with how gambling has changed with digital and it must be so much more rife.
CF: Absolutely we’ve see how the growth has been phenomenal and we largely attribute this to access as everyone now essentially has access to a casino, in some cases, in their pocket.
CWC: Now being the Case Writing Centre, participant-centred learning is used predominantly on the MBA. How do you think cases are truly beneficial in management education at this level?
CF: The case method can be incredibly powerful at the MBA level because it helps students apply the knowledge that they’ve learnt throughout their programme. So cases put students in the role of a decision maker and you have to make a series of decisions given what is sometimes incomplete information, you may have competing priorities, just as they would have to do in a real leadership role. So cases also allow students to actually integrate learnings from across a whole host of different modules. So you bring in insights from strategy, from finance, from marketing, and you are able to play out how you would go about pulling on this knowledge within a particular scenario. One thing I like most about cases is that it’s not about finding the correct answer, but given the info that I have this is the decision that I would make and these are the reasons I would do that, so again it’s helping students to really shape their thinking as a leader. And I think one thing that’s really import to me when it comes to participant-centred learning is that it recognises the fact that at a post-experience level, all students come into the classroom with knowledge and lived experience that is both valid and valuable, and it gives students an opportunity to really bring that to the fore.
CWC: Tell us about one of your favourite cases?
CF: I’ve narrowed it to a local and an international one. The international one is definitely the Dollar Shave Club case from the London Business School. I think that this is a fascinating case. It’s about how a new entrant to the market was able to really massively disrupt the shaving industry in a way that textbooks would tell you that shouldn’t have been able to. So it’s a really interesting case in terms of consumer behaviour and being able to tap into very uniquely human insights. So I really enjoy teaching that case study. Then the local one is actually one that I wrote together with Jeandri Robertson and Mignon Reyneke, and it forms part of the GSB’s Harvard Business Impact collection, on Omnisient. Now I find that the mission of this organisation is a fascinating one and that’s why I’ve chosen it. They are a B2B, privacy-preserving, data collaboration platform – basically they act as an intermediary that allows companies to readily share data with one another in a way that helps to safeguard the privacy of that data. So at the time when we wrote this case they were thinking about how they could grow in a socially responsible way and what that meant given the mission of the organisation, and it’s just been so great after the fact to see the success that this company has had over the last few years.
CWC: Why do you think African cases matter?
CF: For a long time African institutions relied on content including cases from far beyond the continent and many cases coming from the global North, and in many cases those don’t really reflect the complexity of operating in an African market and we’ve now reached the point where African institutions are being recognised on a global scale. We’re not only contributing to, but helping to shape global MBA conversations so we are now developing our own cases of very successful African firms that are able to reflect the reality of what is happening in emerging markets and that I think is very critical in understanding these markets and of course being successful within these markets.
CWC: Now you’re also involved in our global immersions. What do you think the learners from those really enjoy about coming to Cape Town?
CF: So the global immersions are run through our Executive Education department and we’re really fortunate to welcome a host of partner universities to the GSB every year. Many are themed about Doing Business in Africa and it’s an opportunity to showcase the work, not only at the GSB, but also entrepreneurs and organisations from across the continent. And for our students to network with students from all over the world. One of my favourite parts is showcasing our beautiful city and why I’m so passionate about our country, and more broadly our continent, while also highlighting the challenges, opportunities, and complexities that are associated with doing business within our context. We do spend a lot of time talking about the historical and socio-political context of South Africa before we are ever able to start talking about business in our context and the reason is we have to have a solid understanding of why SA is structured that way it is today. It’s evident that students have been told negative things about SA and in many cases it’s without firsthand experience. So one of my favourite parts of these global immersions is the mindset shift that comes from having that firsthand experience and that comes from seeing and learning about innovative approaches in our markets and really being able to uncover stories of incredible resilience.
CWC: Congratulations on the MBA Director Award for 2026 from AMBA & BGA. What does this mean to you?
CF: Even though I am the recipient of the award I think that it’s really important to acknowledge that everything that we do is a result of a team effort and this has been a really great marker for the MBA team that we’re doing things right. We’ve made a host of changes on the MBA programme over the past couple of years and it’s so great to see that type of recognition on a global stage and I think it’s really important that we are seeing innovation coming from the African continent on a global stage.
Read the cases
Check out these cases by Assoc Prof Ferreira:
"Omnisient: Creating shared value in a growing data ecosystem" Mignon Reyneke, Jeandri Robertson, Caitlin Ferreira
"GrowBox: The reality of growth challenges for a social entrepreneur in Cape Town" Claire Barnardo, Mignon Reyneke, Caitlin Ferreira, Jeandri Robertson
