Jaco Van der Bank

Growing up in an entrepreneurial family and ​​exposed to the world of business at a very young age, ingrained in me a profound interest in how entrepreneurs evaluate opportunities and how they turn opportunities into successful businesses.  Following this interest led me to pursue an undergraduate degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Entrepreneurship at the University of Pretoria (South Africa).  For my Master’s dissertation, combining the two was a natural choice and cumulated in a study in which we looked at the cognitive biases and mental heuristics of nascent entrepreneurs in the context of opportunity evaluation. After obtaining my Master’s degree, and working as a consultant for two years on a variety of projects, I decided to join the academic world where I lectured on entrepreneurship, innovation and business finance at various universities in South Africa.

My curiosity to know more about complex technology based business models with multiple stakeholders, brought me to SMIT where I am currently working as a business modeller.