October 2022.
The Globeleq Scholarship Fund (GSF) 2023 academic year has opened and is available to students living within a 50km radius of Aries Solar Power, in the Kai !Garib Municipal area, specifically the Kenhardt local community.
“This education fund delivers on a number of agendas, by supporting 100% black youth and mostly women beneficiaries from the Kenhardt community, which to-date has funded [x] students, helping many families improve their futures. Furthermore, this tertiary education funding vehicle is an activity that is contributing towards the country’s transformation agenda,” said Hlengiwe Radebe, Economic Development Director for Globeleq South Africa Management services and Aries Solar Power.
The GSF Communities fund is open to students who are studying any course and who reside in Kenhardt, whilst the GSF Scarce Skills fund, funded by Aries Solar Power’s Socio-Economic Development Programme, and open to applicants across the Northern Cape Province, aims to develop skills that will mostly benefit and help develop the province further focused on nursing, agriculture and education.
The intention for young people take up the opportunity to study and ultimately impact their communities, as tertiary education will effectively increase the local skills pool.
A previous bursary recipient, Herschelle Williams, who has already achieved his Bachelor of Education degree, said, “I have always wanted to be a teacher. I felt this was the best way to help people and be a role model for the youth in my community.”
Additionally, the GSF offers an Engineering fund that is designed to support the renewable energy sector and ensure a pipeline of qualified talent. It is offered nationally through institutions offering and students studying mechatronic or electrical engineering.
“The Globeleq Scholarship Fund has expanded its wings and grown as we have increased our operational footprint, since its inception in 2014. The programme has given opportunities to students from all nine provinces of the country, because many engineering students were not from communities that are within the areas where our power plants are based, but from other provinces, such as KZN. The support given to the students will continue to bring hope to students who are unable to pay for and further their studies,” said Radebe.
The GSF utilises a less conventional and holistic approach to funding, by typically not only focusing on academic achievement, but rather on financial need, location of the students and gender to demonstrate its commitment to increase the cache of women engineers in the country and to the sector.
Having launched eight years ago, when the sector was in its nascency, the fund has already supported over 370 students across nine provinces, with bursaries valued at over R20 million in total.
To apply visit http://globeleq.auraams.app/
