Our 2021 social impact crowdfund scholarships have been awarded. Thanks to the support of almost 1,500 investors from across the globe, we raised almost £2 million in just 14 days – a staggering achievement that has allowed us to award more than R3.5 million in full coding bootcamp scholarships to students in need.
This social impact investment will change the lives of more than 50 students across South Africa, who have been granted full scholarships to study software engineering, full stack web development, or data science on one of our mentor-led coding bootcamps. It is our hope that these scholarships represent a bold and practical effort to close the growing global tech skills gap, by empowering youth education.
We’d like you to meet three of our scholarship winners below: Njabulo, Buzwe, and Philile.
Njabulo is a student from Port Elizabeth who is currently completing her final year at Rhodes University. She works part-time writing educational content for an edtech startup, and also volunteers for a non-profit organisation at her university. Njabulo’s exposure to the tech space has sparked a passion to learn more about the solutions that coding has to offer the South African education system.
In her own words, Njabulo says:
“My experience at both the NPO and part-time job has made me realize the huge gap that South African learners, particularly those in government schools and low income households, have with regards to access to an understandable and quality education. It is problems and solutions like these that propel my interest in Artificial Intelligence and the many possibilities it offers for humanity, all through coding.”
Njabulo will be starting her coding journey with HyperionDev Software Engineer Bootcamp later this year. When asked what she is most looking forward to in her coding bootcamp, Njabulo shared that:
“Learning and applying the skills I acquire is the most exciting part for me. I have zero knowledge on coding so I’m really curious to see where this journey will take me. I’m a natural problem-solver so this bootcamp will DEFINITELY keep me on my toes!”
Njabulo is excited to see where this coding journey takes her, as she hopes to not only develop her skills on a personal level, but to also use her coding skills to create a positive impact in society.
This is what Njabulo had to say on where she hopes her coding bootcamp will take her:
“After a year I hope to see myself not only getting exposed to the South African tech space, but also to the international tech space and its opportunities, as small of a fish as I am. Employment would be great but I’m also curious to see what I (or a group of collaborators and myself) am able to create that’ll ensure a positive impact. The tech skills I’ll acquire are not only for my personal gain and for me to hone them, but they are also for society too, in whatever space I find myself in.”
Buzwe is originally from Khayelitsha, Cape Town. Buzwe developed an interest in entrepreneurship through the Bridges for Music Academy in Langa and has since been upskilling himself through various seminars and entrepreneurial workshops. Buzwe describes himself as a “social entrepreneur at heart”.
“My entrepreneurship drive was refined by an academy called Bridges for Music in Langa Township in Cape Town which focuses on music and entrepreneurship. Bridges for Music Academy is where my skills of mindfulness, entrepreneurship and sound production were sharpened and enhanced. I had the privilege of being mentored by various active agents in social entrepreneurship in South Africa.”
Buzwe has a keen interest in cybersecurity and hopes to one day develop tools to protect consumers from money laundering scams, and to safeguard consumer data.
In line with his entrepreneurial spirit, Buzwe is excited to connect with fellow coders and coding mentors when he starts his HyperionDev Data Scientist bootcamp later this year. After his bootcamp, Buzwe hopes to work as a developer and to be able to give back to other young entrepreneurs.
“I would love to create a mini Khan Academy for pupils and those with an entrepreneurship spirit like myself.”
Our next scholarship winner Philile hopes to explore her interest in technology by developing her coding skills through the HyperionDev Software Engineer Bootcamp.
“I want to be part of the change taking place in the world. I want to look at the technological and digital progress and be proud that I am part of carrying that change. It is especially important to me because I am a young, black woman therefore being part of the tech industry will be ground-breaking and powerful.”
Philile has a clear vision of where she hopes to see herself in the future, after completing her HyperionDev bootcamp and intends to combine her passion for food science with tech skills.
“I see myself as a Junior Software Engineer at a prominent tech organization that values innovation, diversity, and quality, while upskilling and improving my knowledge with another one of HyperionDev’s bootcamps.
I would love to work my way to being a Senior Software Engineer. The ultimate project I see myself designing and creating is a food safety compliance software that maintains records of Food Quality Control, and keeps track of temperature control, pest control, hygiene and sanitation, and adherence to food safety protocols such as Haccp and ISO22000. This program would be suitable for validation and verification, and would be effective, efficient, and reliable for quality controllers and food technologists and scientists.”
Philile is excited to develop new skills through our bootcamps. She shares what she is most looking forward to during her course:
“I am mostly excited for the challenge. I enjoy problem solving and puzzling scenarios so it is only fitting for me to learn a skill that will not only uplift me but also challenge me. I am excited about learning how to take a problem, create a vision and combine it with the realities of the computer language to create a product/solution that performs all the tasks it is expected to.”
These remarkable students are just 3 out of the numerous winners selected to win a fully funded HyperionDev coding bootcamp. Njabulo, Buzwe and Philile will be joining our coding bootcamps soon and we will continue to follow them on their journey to achieving their goals.
Be sure to follow along as we have many more incredible stories to share with you as we introduce more of our scholarship winners.
