14/04/2026
My younger siblings and I were raised by a single mother and my grandparents in Beacon Valley Mitchell's Plain.
I was awarded the SAILI bursary for high school and attended Livingstone High School. I did not know it at the time, but the scholarship with SAILI was the key that unlocked future opportunities that brought me to where I am today.
A decade later, I understand that the true value was not only the financial assistance but the exposure and support I was a beneficiary of. Living in residence at UCT while completing my civil engineering degree, I found out very quickly I was different and people like me were statistically unlikely to be here. I realised then that the playing field was about more than just financial capital. It was about experience, having the right advice, culture, and mindset within reach - the ability to create and wield social capital to overcome barriers.
Post-university, after building a manufacturing business and experiencing life as both an employee and an employer, the best advice I can give is this: go study - not only for the content in the books, but for the people you meet in the library. The most valuable things you will take from university are not just the lessons from your degree, but the connections you make, the opening of your mind, and the glimpses into worlds you might never otherwise encounter.
SAILI excursions and job-shadowing at Kantey & Templar planted the seeds that led my young mind to discovering that I could escape to or build a better world in real life, not just through books and stories. Programmes like the SAILI Scholarship Programme are critical for young people from disadvantaged environments, where the odds are often stacked against them. They provide not only a holistic education, but most importantly - the ability to dream bigger, with the hope that those dreams are achievable.
