I’m passionate about teaching entrepreneurship through my experience as a practising entrepreneur in establishing and growing various successful family businesses, including some failures. For this, I developed textbooks and collaborated with teams of authors from many universities. Examples of these books are ‘Entrepreneurship and How to establish your own business’ with 192 000 copies of seven editions sold. Another, ‘Entrepreneurship: A South African Perspective’ with a more inclusive angle, an interdisciplinary approach and in the African context, more than 80 000 copies of five editions have been sold. I’m the editor and co-author of 52 books prescribed widely to students in 26 universities for graduate purposes.
As a leader in my field and, consequently, the development of people, I served as the Head of the Department of Business Management. I was then awarded the Chair of the South African Research Chair Initiative in Entrepreneurship Education (SARChI EE). With my colleagues Prof Tselepis and Prof Meyer, we are a small but innovative team that balances the tasks of Teaching and Learning, creating new knowledge and serving the community whilst the development of people is at the heart of every initiative. We collaborate extensively with colleagues throughout the university, nationally and internationally. I appreciate the impact my published work may have, and in April 2023, my google scholar h-index was 20, with 1874 citations. A highlight of my career was in 2022 when the Krakow University of Economics awarded me an Honorary Doctorate for my contributions to Entrepreneurship Development.

Cecile Nieuwenhuizen
Chair of the SARChI Entrepreneurship Education
University of Johannesburg, South Africa,



Cornel Nieuwenhuizen
Husband and entrepreneur
TOTALCARE Living and TOTALCARE People



Thea Tselepis
Professor and Team member of SARChI Entrepreneurship Education
SARChI Entrepreneurship Education, University of Johannesburg.



Natanya Meyer
Professor and Team member of SARChI Entrepreneurship Education
SARChI Entrepreneurship Education, University of Johannesburg.



Khethukuthula Gumede
Administrator and Team member of SARChI Entrepreneurship Education.
SARChI Entrepreneurship Education, University of Johannesburg.

The University of Johannesburg which supports all entrepreneurship endeavours and the SARChI Entrepreneurship Education.
Thanks to the South African Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and the National Research Foundation (NRF) funders of the South African Research Chair Initiative and thus the DHET-NRF SARChI Entrepreneurship Education. SARChI is a strategic intervention of the South African government and a prestigious award to attract and retain research excellence and innovation at South African public universities. Universities compete to be granted SARChIs. Therefore, being awarded the SARChI in Entrepreneurship Education was a career highlight.
My excellent Entrepreneurship specialist team in the SARChI EE, Prof Thea Tselepis, Prof Natanya Meyer and our administrator Mr Khethukuthula Gumede.
The Krakow University of Economics (Poland) awarded me a Doctor Honoris Causa in Entrepreneurship, and professors from various countries, including Germany, the USA, Poland, Switzerland and South Africa who submitted reports to support the DHC.
My husband, Cornel Nieuwenhuizen, children, directors and staff of TOTALCARE.