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Dr Yvonne Maphosa (Doctor of Food Science and Technology
ACHIEVERS AWARD INSPIRED HER TO BE THE BEST SHE COULD BE
ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE: Dr Yvonne Maphosa is a Zimbabwean award-winning author and academic.
Dr Yvonne Maphosa says the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestigious Achievers Award “is not just a bursary, it’s an acknowledgement of outstanding postgraduate students who have shown academic excellence and an embodiment of the CPUT graduate attributes”.
The Zimbabwean-born academic obtained her PhD in Food Science and Technology at the CPUT 2022 Autumn Graduation. Her research topic was “Rheological behaviour of Bambara groundnut starch-soluble dietary fibre nanocomposite for delivering active compounds in food systems”.
Reflecting on her career journey, the bubbly author says: “A PhD is not a walk in the park. It requires a lot of emotional and financial support. It’s a very difficult journey that requires commitment and strength. I was blessed with the support of my family, friends and fellow
postgraduate students. I had amazing supervisors as well. They held my hand and guided me through. I will forever be indebted to them. The CPUT postgraduate centre was also very helpful and always there to assist.”
The last-born of six says a PhD is very expensive and the VC’s Prestigious Achievers Award provided for her tuition, residence and everything she needed to successfully complete her PhD.
“It also came with tremendous non-financial support from the committee and the VC’s office, all of which I’m deeply grateful for.” The go-getter added: “It is motivation to keep on excelling. It inspired me to be the best I could be.”
Having grown up in Mambale village, deep in the rural area of Plumtree, Zimbabwe, working hard comes naturally for Maphosa. “Working hard was instilled in me from a young age. Waking up early to work the fields before running many kilometres to school, then running to the river to fetch water after school taught me that, in life, you must work hard. It also taught me balance and time management.”
Maphosa, who has always been an A student, has won numerous prestigious awards throughout her academic journey in the form of funding, medals, trophies, certificates and scholarships.
“They serve as acknowledgements, reassurances and motivations to accomplish more,” she says.
Maphosa completed her BTech in Food Technology (cum laude) in 2013 and was awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Medal as the best graduating student in the Faculty of Applied Sciences. She passed her master’s with distinction and graduated in September 2016.
Besides being an academic, she is an award-winning author who has published two fiction novel series: The y in yOUR Man is Silent (a national bestseller) and Grasping at Straws.
Prof Victoria Jideani notes, “Dr Maphosa has been a high achiever from her undergraduate to PhD. She finished her PhD in record time. She filed for patents in the UK, US and South Africa. She assisted as a lecturer. She published seven articles during her PhD and two articles during her master’s.”
Maphosa is also involved in charity work. She runs a campaign called Buy-A-Pad with Yvonne. She collects and donates sanitary pads for disadvantaged women and girls. She also launched a writing competition, Luvone, aimed at discovering young unpublished writers. Luvone: an anthology of short stories from entrants, was published. Maphosa is involved in several community projects in Zimbabwe, especially those aimed at empowering the girl child and advocating for women rights. She says summiting Mount Kilimanjaro was another highlight of her life.
In her message to prospective students, Maphosa says: “Be yourself. You can only realise your true potential if you are truly yourself. Don’t waste your life mimicking other people or chasing the wind at the expense of your dreams. Focus! Set your goals and work towards them.”
Maphosa also acknowledged the support she received from the ViceChancellor and the awards committee.
LECTURER PAYS TRIBUTE TO VICE-CHANCELLOR’S PRESTIGIOUS ACHIEVERS AWARDS
Imisioluseyi Akinyede was born into a polygamous family of Akinyede-Asamo dynasty in Ado-Ekiti in Ekiti State in Nigeria. His mother, Felicia Akinyede, a trader, encouraged him to understand that his road map to success was through education, which he set out to achieve through endurance and perseverance.
In 2013, he registered for his MTech in Construction Management at CPUT and graduated in 2015 with distinction. During the master’s degree programme, he presented and published nine conference papers accredited by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) for subsidies.
After working as a project manager from 2015 to 2016, Akinyede commenced his DEng degree in 2016. His research topic was “Framework for effective management of cost toward sustainable housing delivery”. His excellent work continued
FOREVER GRATEFUL: Construction Management and Quantity Surveying lecturer, Imisioluseyi Akinyede, says the formation of the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestigious Achievers Awards is a good initiative by the CPUT management team.
in the doctoral programme where Akinyede published an article in an international journal accredited by DHET and presented five conference papers at local and international level. His work experience manifested in the research
he conducted on sustainable, affordable housing delivery in South Africa and his roles as a research assistant, mentor and lecturer helped him tremendously with research outcomes.
Dr Ayodeji Fapohunda, Akinyede’s research supervisor, says: “I enjoyed supervising Dr Akinyede. He was a disciplined student. He listened to me as his supervisor. It was simple to supervise his research. He had the quality to conduct research on his own. Even at his master’s level he behaved like a PhD student. He worked independently.”
Financial constraints nearly frustrated Akinyede out of the doctoral degree programme until he received the ViceChancellor’s Prestigious Achievers Award in 2019 and 2020. “It helped me greatly to complete my doctorate degree within the time as scheduled by the university. I was a debtor to the university and registration became difficult for me as a result of the debt I owed the school [CPUT]”. Immediately I received this award, I was able to register in the year 2019 and 2020, respectively.
Reflecting on the support he received from CPUT staff during his studies, Akinyede says: “My departmental staff are good people, ready to assist at all time. The love and kindness shown to me by academic staff of the Department of Construction Management and Quantity Surveying during this study was wonderful and appreciated.”
Akinyede also pays tribute to the ViceChancellor and the awards committee. He acknowledged the support of the Vice-Chancellor for skills development at CPUT. “The formation of the ViceChancellor’s Prestigious Achievers Award is a good initiative by CPUT. My appreciation goes to the awards committee for nominating me as one of the recipients.
“I will forever be grateful to the ViceChancellor and the awards committee for the financial support. Furthermore, I appreciate the Vice-Chancellor for the letter he sent to me on my graduation [inviting him to join the group of talented academics at CPUT]. I am willing to continue my academic career at CPUT.”
