Professionals are paying it forward
DOUGLASDALE- The Black Professional Scholarship Fund (BPSF) is celebrating young visionaries by giving back to underprivileged students.
Co-founder, Pholoso Masilela explained that the organisation started when she and a group of like-minded friends who had just graduated from university recognised the need for funding other young individuals who wanted to pursue professional qualifications. They also recognised the need for education and social upliftment in the social sphere.
“Having completed our tertiary education, the six founding members, of which most had acquired financial assistance in the form of scholarships or bursaries, recognised the need to pay forward the opportunities we had been given to others,” Masilela explained.
“We recognised that the majority of children from previously disadvantaged backgrounds knew little of the professions they could enter into as tertiary education had always seemed unattainable for them.”
The organisation officially launched in March 2014.
“We have focused our efforts on professions like accounting, law, medicine and engineering as we believe they are the highest contributing sectors of the current economy and climate,” Masilela said.
“These are also sectors that previously disadvantaged individuals have not previously been exposed to, thus leading to a deficit of such individuals in the work place.”
She said that in an effort to distinguish themselves from other organisations who solely provide financial assistance to individuals, her co-founders and her wanted to create an organisation where they could mentor candidates from high school level, give them career guidance and facilitate their progress through high school onto tertiary institutions.
The organisation's biggest aspiration is called Goal 15 in which they aim to send their first student to university for the 2015 academic year.
“Our ultimate goal is to grow the alumni of the organisation so that students who pass through the organisation pay it forward and continue to mentor and develop the next generation of candidates,” Masilela said.
Masilela invited the community to find out more about the organisation and get involved.
Details: getinvolved@bpsf.co.za, www.bpsf.co.za
