Since 2008 WPN has awarded bursaries to female students studying …

The Women’s Property Network (WPN) was established in early 2000 to create a forum for women in a predominantly male industry to join together to exchange information, develop business contacts and enhance professional success.

Since 2008 WPN has awarded bursaries to female students studying towards a property related degree or diploma. The 2015-yearis no exception, and a total of eleven bursaries totaling in excess of R500 000 (tuition and study material fees) have been awarded to students studying at various institutions across the country.

All the applicants are deserving in terms of personal circumstances, had achieved in excess of 60% average and showed a passion for the property industry. At the beginning of the year, the WPN did not have sufficient funds to award all of the bursaries, and embarked on a fund raising initiative in February to register the WPN as a charity entry into the Two Oceans Marathon, and friends of WPN ran to support the charity. In addition to these pledges,

Delta Property Fund also made a significant contribution of R600 000 to the Educational Trust, thereby ensuring that all eleven bursaries could be awarded.

WPN Chair, Genevieve Naidoo, says: “We continue to be overwhelmed by the generous support of companies in the industry and on behalf of the WPN Executive, I would like to thank contributors for their support. The WPN Educational Trust is a special initiative, and one which has been nurtured for many years so as to ensure that young female graduates take their place in the industry and are able to make a meaningful contribution.”

Comments from the students in regard to what the awarding of the bursaries has meant to them is reward in itself:

AZRA MIA
I would like to express my heartfelt thanks for your generosity in awarding this bursary to me. Having lost my father about 9 months ago, this bursary comes in the form of a miracle for my family. I am currently in my 3rd year BSc Property Studies, and I plan to venture into Real Estate Development as a major for 4th year, being awarded this bursary takes me one step closer to one of my many goals.

KARABO MALEKA
I am filled with gratitude because this bursary makes it possible for me to obtain my qualification without having to worry about finances. Thank you to the Women’s Property Network for this opportunity.

MATSHADISO MOLOLEKWA
I am sincerely grateful to the Trustees of the WPN Educational Trust for making the 2015 bursary award possible. This bursary means a lot to my family and I as it has lightened the financial burden, which allows me to focus on my studies.

MBALI NGIDI
The Women’s Property Network, has created a platform for young women like myself to enter the property industry and to allow a more engaged education, through the opportunity to network and share ideas at a professional level.

NONOKAZI MDUTYANA
The bursary is a true blessing.Not only was financial assistance needed, but exposure to the property industry, which is key for young students setting out and wanting to make the right decisions in terms of career paths.

PABALLO WESSIE
I am so grateful to the WPN for awarding me this bursary, as now I need worry less about the funding, and focus on building my future and doing my part to positively impact South Africa and its built environment.

RAZAAN EBRAHIM
I am extremely grateful. No more stressing about finances, as I can now focus on my curriculum. The WPN bursary encourages excellence amongst deserving students from disadvantaged communities, and helps aspirant female students to become qualified professionals and leaders – much of what is needed in our new diversified democracy.

RHULANI MABASA
Not only has the bursary relievedthe financial strain, but has also motivated me to ensure good grades as a way of appreciation to those who went out of their way to grant me a study opportunity. I hope to follow in their footsteps in the future so as to also give other women, especially from rural areas the opportunity to study and better their communities.

SHEREEN MOLOTO
The investment by the WPN towards my career development has ensured that I will be able to register as a professional urban planner with the South African Council for Planners and thus move on to be an accredited professional in my field.

THANDEKA SHABALALA
I would like to thank the WPN for offering me this bursary. I had reached a point of giving up on completing my degree as my parents could only provide funding for my first year.

TLANGELANI BALOYI
By awarding me the bursary, the WPN has lightened my financial burden allowing me to focus on the most important aspect of university – learning and maintaining my academic achievement. I hope one day I will be able to help students achieve their goals.

In addition to the awarding of the bursaries, the WPN through its regional chapters and committees will support these students by ensuring regular contact to discuss study material and any problem areas that may have arisen and will engage with the students at the networking events so thatthey have access to women active in the industry.

source eprop.co.za

SA Taxi Foundation, founded in 2014 as the corporate social investment arm for the SA Taxi group of companies, has made its first award of a bursaries

SA Taxi Foundation, founded in 2014 as the corporate social investment arm for the SA Taxi group of companies, has made its first award of a bursary to a student from the rural and peri-urban communities served by SA Taxi’s customers.
News Article Image for ‘SA Taxi Foundation awards the first of its annual university bursaries’
SA Taxi is the country’s only independent financer of minibus taxies and is one of very few companies certified as a developmental credit provider.

“Inherently, SA Taxi is a gateway financer,” says SA Taxi Foundation director, Kalnisha Singh. “By providing vehicle finance as well as free business and driver training as part of our product set, we enable our customers to develop sustainable small businesses and, thereby, move into the mainstream economy.”

“Our contribution to enterprise development is, therefore, significant. Even so, we felt the need to deepen our social impact by going beyond the demand / supply relationships that underlie our business as usual. As a result, we set up the Foundation to help address the intense poverty and limited access to the most basic needs that prevent most rural and peri-urban societies from feeling the positive effects of economic freedom.”

“With one of the Foundation’s focus areas being education, it was logical for us to set up a bursary fund whose objective is to provide opportunities for students from rural and peri-urban communities to participate in the formal economy.”

The SA Taxi Foundation Bursary Fund prioritises applications for studies in those sectors identified by the SETAs as having a scarcity of skills. These include technical studies (engineering and artisanal trades), mainstream commerce (actuarial science, accounting, and finance), the sciences (medicine, chemistry), and business disciplines such as industrial psychology, human resources, and marketing.

Bursary recipients are required to achieve a minimum average of 65% in each semester funded by the bursary and must also undertake project work at SA Taxi during their vacations.

SA Taxi Foundation Bursary Fund’s first recipient, Ndumiso Mabena, is in the second year of his accounting diploma at the University of Johannesburg and has consistently achieved more than 75% for his semester averages.

During the July break he will help organise and also teach accountancy at SA Taxi Foundation’s Winter School aimed at helping matrics prepare for their final exams.

Mabena, who grew up in Mpumalanga but did his matric in Gauteng, says his parents encouraged him to study. His father, whose taxi operation is run by Mabena’s eldest brother, works for the Department of Transport and taught adult literacy in his spare time. His mother is a qualified Grade R teacher and is studying through UNISA for her teaching degree.

“It was my father, who had done a UNISA course on managing small businesses, who suggested I do an accounting degree. He knows that I have an interest in business, having been exposed to it via one of my aunts, who worked with an Australian NGO to gain funding for orphanages, and also via my father’s taxi operation, which is named for me,” says Mabena.

“While I enjoy accounting for its own sake, what really fascinates me is the way in which it enables a business to run efficiently and with maximum benefit to its stakeholders.”

Mabena plans to qualify as a chartered accountant and then to start his own business in either technology or film and television production.

The SA Taxi Foundation Bursary Fund will award at least one new bursary a year during the next five years, seeing each student through to his or final studies.

source mediaupdate.co.za

SAScholar, a Web-based app designed by students to help make it easier for other scholars to find bursaries, has been unveiled.
The app was launched on Monday and within six hours, 100 users had already signed up for the service. It was developed by students who understand the process of finding bursaries is “wearisome and confusing”, states the Web site. The app was designed to make the process easier, with all bursaries and scholarships listed in one, easy-to-navigate place.

The app matches people to funding opportunities, so that students do not have to search for these openings themselves. The service is free and all that is required is an e-mail address and basic personal information to sign up.
Students fill in the field they are interested in getting funding for and at what level they are studying. The app will then list all available bursaries that match the student’s particulars.
The total value of all the funding opportunities available on the app is worth more than R1 billion, according to student and SAScholar operations manager Tafadzwa Kachara.
Once a bursary is saved, students will receive e-mail notifications when the closing date of the bursary is approaching.
There are no international bursaries on the app yet; this option will come with future updates.

As the school calendar reaches the half-way mark, many matrics will begin applying at different tertiary institutions for next year. Those who need a bursary are in luck as a new app has been launched to make it easier to find one.

The SAScholar Bursary App uses students’ biographical details to match with opportunities available in their desired area of study. All you have to do is register on the app and start searching for bursaries related to your field and level of study.

“The inspiration behind the app is a combination of frustration for looking for bursaries and a will to help educate South Africa,” said Blessing Jonamu, SAScholar’s product manager and senior developer.
“We understand the fact that the process of applying for bursaries and scholarships is wearisome and often quite confusing,” Jonamu said. “Funding is the number one problem for scholars who wish to further their education at a higher education institution, which is why we want to simplify the process and make bursaries more accessible to the general public.”
All South African universities are listed on the app with a wide range of courses covered.

Once you’ve found a bursary, you have the option of either contacting the university directly or applying on the university’s website. You can also share the information with friends or family via email.
“It has been a long journey. We came up with this idea about a year and 6 months ago and are glad it has become a reality,” Jonamu said.
SAScholar is compatible with any mobile that has a web browser and will soon have dedicated apps for different operating systems soon. Register here to get added to our mailing list.

EVERY year, hundreds of students drop out of university due to financial difficulties – only to return to dire financial circumstances.

It is only a few who manage to secure a bursary to fund their studies.

These bursaries often pay only for academic and residential expenses, leaving students without additional funding for food.

The University of the Free State (UFS) realised that up to 60% of its students were food-insecure.

Many of these students admitted to having to work after class to buy food or having to beg from friends.

In 2011, the UFS launched the No Student Hungry (NSH) Bursary Programme, which provides modest food bursaries to food-insecure students.

Currently 130 students receive food bursaries from the programme to ensure they have one less thing to worry about while they are studying.

This year, at their autumn graduation ceremony, six beneficiaries of the NSH Bursary Programme received their degrees – an achievement all of them feel they could not have reached if it had not been for the support by NSH.

For Tshililo Nethengwe, an accounting student from Venda, her first year at university in 2012 was a daily battle. Although her parents managed to pay her study and accommodation fees, the meagre monthly food allowance her parents could afford was not enough to last her the month.

“Every morning I used to tell myself not to think about food, because I was here to study. Somehow, I still managed to get something to eat – even if it was just a few slices of bread a day,” says Nethengwe.

“I was very determined to succeed in my studies, and NSH took away the burden of needing to ‘hustle’ and beg for food.”

Nethengwe is now doing her honours in BCom Accounting.

“The NSH Bursary Programme invests in potential, and supports academic achievers who come from challenging backgrounds,” says Vicky Simpson, co-ordinator of the NSH Bursary Programme.

“We promote the success of undergraduate students, enabling them to focus on their studies and not on where their next meal will come from.

“Successful graduates will have a positive and direct impact on our economy, different communities, and many households.

“The NSH Bursary Programme is awarded to students on the basis of financial need, academic excellence, and the commitment to serve the community.

“We have helped more than 500 students since 2011, when Prof. Jonathan Jansen, vice-chancellor and rector, started NSH.

“These students share amazing stories that inspire us. Many had to endure hardship, but they managed to persevere, they worked hard, and they made it to university.

“The ability to buy a meal makes an enormous difference,” says Simpson

source news24.com

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STUDENTS will have access to bursaries worth more than R1bn at the click of a button when a new mobile application (app) launches on Monday.

The app was developed by Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University alumni.

Punted as a “bursary matching web app” for school leavers and undergraduate students, the smartphone application is designed to help students sift through thousands of bursaries on offer throughout the country in less than a tenth of the time it would usually take.

The operations manager for SAScholar app, Tafadzwa Kachara, said the idea for the app stemmed from his struggle to find a bursary to study for his Bachelor of Science undergraduate degree in biochemistry and microbiology. “For undergraduate qualifications there are a lot of funding opportunities but it is difficult to get your hands on them,” Kachara said.

Kachara and his former flatmate, Blessing Jonamu, who was studying towards a Master’s degree in computer science at the time, painstakingly created a database, which includes more than 7,000 bursaries across SA, available to nearly every university country-wide. The total value of the bursaries available through SAScholar app adds up to more than R1bn.

Kachara said SAScholar app was designed in such a way that students would be able create a profile, including their age and the qualification for which they wanted to study.

The app would then sift through SAScholar’s database and provide those results that were applicable and unique to that specific scholar.

It allowed users to save details of the bursaries they were interested in and would send notifications when their saved bursaries were about to reach their deadline date, he said.

source bdlive.co.za

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