Minister joins celebration of 16 graduate Grandwest bursary recipients

To mark Youth Month, the Western Cape Minister of Social Development, Albert Fritz, addressed the Grandwest CSI bursary graduation ceremony.

The event celebrated 16 young people who had received bursaries from the Grandwest CSI Bursary Fund, and who have graduated from various science, technology, engineering and math degrees.

The 16 youth all come from poor backgrounds, and received funding from the Grandwest CSI to pursue their degrees at different universities in the Western Cape.

The Grandwest CSI has contributed over R18-million towards the tertiary education of young people. These 16 graduates bring the total to 1339 students who have been funded by this initiative.

In his address Minister Fritz congratulated the graduates and Grandwest CSI.

“Tonight is about celebrating youth excellence, and encouraging young people to dream big and do even greater things with the opportunities they get”, said Minister Fritz, who continued to say, “my Department has invested R17.7-million this financial year to support youth initiatives and call on other private sector firms to invest in young people, like Grandwest CSI does”.

The Grandwest CSI Bursary Fund is innovative in how it does not require graduates to repay the monetary value of the bursary, but rather asks the graduates to pay it forward by volunteering in charitable initiatives. This year’s graduates were;

The Department applauds this approach, as it raises awareness around the need for social responsibility, and encourages the whole-of-society approach. We wish the graduates well in their future careers.