Johannesburg, 14 Mar 2002
IT solutions and infrastructure provider, Datacentrix is seeing fruition of its bursary programme, with the first batch of sponsored students joining the company in December last year. The organisation set up a R1 million educational trust two years ago, to be used in the education of disadvantaged students in the fields of IT and marketing.
According to Annelie van Wyk, group HR director at Datacentrix, the company selects students in their second year of tertiary education based on merit. "We have worked very closely with the deans of specific university departments, who identify the most promising candidates for Datacentrix to assist.
"Of the first five students to join Datacentrix on completion of their degrees, our two BCom Marketing students will be employed in the sales environment for the next year. During this time, they will be exposed to and educated on Datacentrix`s product range, managing accounts and client relationship management. They will also be trained in various business skills areas such as presentation skills," she explains.
The three BSc Computer Science students began their IT careers in Datacentrix`s configuration centre and have now been placed in various departments, including document and data management, logistics and services.
"Not only do we provide the necessary business skills education, they are also instructed in Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook. In addition, a number of students have done vacation work at Datacentrix while completing their degrees," adds Van Wyk.
"For 2002, we will be donating funds to four additional students from the University of Pretoria, two students from Peninsula Technikon and two students from Durban Westville University. One student each from Rhodes University and Campus College have already been chosen," she says.
Gary Morolo, Executive Chairman of Datacentrix, cites the company`s bursary programme as integral to Datacentrix`s black economic empowerment (BEE) strategy. "Datacentrix prides itself in being an equal opportunity company. We believe that by empowering these students, we are investing in the youth of SA."
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