Shoprite says it is still accepting bursary applications for the 2019 academic year.<\/p>\n
Accounting (first and second year), Logistics, IT and Data Sciences as well as Retail Business Management students have a chance at being awarded a bursary of up to R70,000, by completing an online application, it said.<\/p>\n
Last year some 286 students benefited from the Shoprite bursary programme, which translated to an investment in excess of R15 million.<\/p>\n
Each bursary comes with a work-back agreement, which would see the successful applicant assured of a job at the largest private sector employer in the country once they\u2019ve graduated.<\/p>\n
Trainee Accountant Mpilo Sicwebu was a Shoprite bursary holder for the full duration of his university career at Wits: \u201cI was unable to secure a bursary in my matric year. So in my first year I was conducting an online search when I found the Shoprite bursary programme,\u201d said the 23-year-old Sicwebu, who is originally from Durban.<\/p>\n
Now an accounting article clerk at Shoprite\u2019s Home Office, he said no two work days are ever the same. “I expected an every-man-for-himself environment, but was surprised to find something totally different. Everyone here is so accessible and willing to help me grow and develop.”<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been 21 years since the Shoprite Group became the first retailer in South Africa to receive accreditation as a training office from the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). Sicwebu is one of 30 candidates currently doing their articles at Shoprite.<\/p>\n
It is not only accounting students that benefit from a structured programme once they join the Group. A graduate programme is rolled out to all bursary holders employed by the retailer upon graduation, Shoprite said.<\/p>\n