Left to right: Malibongwe Bantom, Nadia Williams and Mandy Papier, students at TSiBA Education in Cape Town
click to enlargeHigh quality education is a vital weapon which South Africa needs to assist in the fight to reduce poverty and grow its economy. Juta and Company may be the oldest publishing house of student textbooks in South Africa, founded almost 160 years ago, but their view on education is modern and progressive. Juta's commitment to social change through education explains their long-term support of the Tertiary School in Business Education (TSiBA), a not-for-profit higher education institution, donating to TSiBA most of its academic textbooks since 2005. To date the value of their donation-in-kind is valued at approximately R2 million.
TSiBA's mission to graduate entrepreneurial leaders who ignite opportunity and social change in their communities through education is something Juta identifies with. Dr Lee Kingma, group human resource manager at Juta, says 'TSiBA's values and ethos are very closely aligned to Jutas in that we believe that education, lifelong learning and access to credible and trusted information are the building blocks of a healthy and vibrant society.'
What makes TSiBA so unique is that all the leadership and entrepreneurship students are on full tuition scholarships. TSiBA does not require students to pay back the institution for their studies, but rather to 'Pay it Forward' to their community. In this way TSiBA's vision of 'igniting opportunity' is realised by providing a high- quality, accredited business degree to those who would otherwise not have had the means to study at tertiary level.
Adri Marais CEO and TSiBA co-founder says 'Juta's committed support goes further than just donating the latest edition textbooks to the students and filling Corporate Social Investment (CSI) requirements. Juta provides internships for final year students and is involved in mentoring, lecturing, and enterprise development projects with the innovation and knowledge management students, and the TSiBA charity trail run organisers. What we love even more about Juta is that not only do they donate in kind, but they have really got involved with a 'hands-on' relationship. We are very thankful for Juta's support in particular Dr Lee Kingma who generously gives so much of her energy and time to TSiBA and its students.'
