The Harvard-Radcliffe Consulting Club, a new undergraduate organization which seeks to increase student awareness of the business world, will hold its first meeting tonight at 8 p.m. in Emerson Hall, Room 305.

Senior Associate Dean of the Harvard Business School, Steven C. Wheelwright, will speak on the role of consultants in business and host a discussion on these issues during today's meeting.

Sifiso G. Ngwenya '97, the club's founder and president, said the organization will address many issues that interest students considering a career in consulting.

"Our goal is to help undergraduates increase their awareness of the business world," Ngwenya said. "One of the questions we want to answer is, what the hell does consulting have to do with me?"

Other goals of the new club include establishing a database to create links between groups of students with similar interests and providing a home base for firms that come to campus to recruit students.

"I hope the club will introduce students to the world of consulting," said Secretary Rob R. Porter '00.

Ngwenya said he hopes that forums will become a regular feature of the monthly meetings.

Porter, Vice-President Rebecca Edwards '98 and Treasurer Kent E. Kemeny '95 have been working with Ngwenya for the last few months to plan the club's activities.

Ngwenya said he is hopeful that the organization will continue in the future.

"I'm going to be graduating this spring, and I want to make sure that the club continues its long-term vision," Ngwenya said.

He also said the organization may help many students better understand the definition of consulting. "It is so amorphous," he said.

The flexibility of consulting draws a wide spectrum of students from many different concentrations he said.

"[Consulting] is very different for different groups. You have people doing it from so many different majors," he said.

Ngwenya, who is on the board of the Harvard Student Agencies, said he had significant business experience even before he entered college.

At his home in South Africa, Ngwenya started a chain of six hair salons. "They helped me to pay my way through college," he said