By: Cat Pritchard
Edgars launched a new initiative aimed at the improvement of education via a holistic bursary programme in September 2009. Although the programme was initiated in celebration of Edgars' 80th birthday, the bursary programme will only officially commence in 2010 as part of a five-year programme that is strongly aligned with Edcon's CSI strategy of investing in the communities in which it operates and it contributes towards Edcon's BBBEE programme.
In addition to its in-house Edcon Retail Academy for existing employees, this initiative is aimed at providing approximately 80 second-year students from predominantly previously disadvantaged backgrounds a chance to study towards a qualification that is relevant to the retail sector and provide work based experiential training thereafter. The selected tertiary institutions are University of Johannesburg, Durban University of Technology and Cape Peninsula University of Technology.
“As we look to the future, investing in education and relevant skills is critical for economic and social prosperity of the country,” says group corporate social investment manager, Innocentia Buthelezi.