The Glen Shopping Centre announces the bursary winner

When 19-year-old Njabulo Menye from Soweto wrote his motivation, he was taking charge of shaping his future to realise his dreams.

Njabulo has won a bursary worth R60 000 from The Glen Shopping Centre to pursue his dream of becoming an entrepreneur.

As a bonus, the tenants at The Glen added to the bursary with prizes from Medellin Barbers, PNA, House of Salim and Estoril Books.

To be eligible for the bursary, students must have matriculated in 2022 and visited The Glen Shopping Centre website to fill out the form before January 13, along with a detailed motivation on why they should be the bursary competition winner. Students must have been interested in studying business, commerce or a related course at any university or college.

The Glen Shopping Centre

According to Prianka Singh, marketing manager at The Glen, candidates who entered the bursary competition were then shortlisted, based on their motivational letters. The top 10 candidates then had face-to-face interviews with a panel of judges.

“The judges conducted the interviews, asked the same set of questions to each candidate, rated them and finally selected the winner based on their responses.

“They chose Njabulo because of his academics, as well as the way he spoke, his confidence and his vision for his future,” said Singh.

She added they believe Njabulo will make them proud and will achieve his goal through determination.

“You can tell that he is a good learner and someone who will contribute to the community and society later. The contract is for a year but based on his performance, we will attempt to continue funding him.

“It is an honour to be able to give him this opportunity and play a small part in a much bigger dream for him. We are grateful to be part of his life. Njabulo will also have the opportunity to work with us during the school holidays.

“Our aim as a shopping centre is to uplift and build our community. We hope we would be in a position to offer the bursary recipients job opportunities after graduating, within the scope of their fields at either a centre or head office level,” said Singh.

Singh emphasised that the competition will be open again this year.

“The date to when the competition will be is not confirmed yet, but shoppers can keep an eye on our website for upcoming events and the competition.”

Know what you want

Njabulo, who intends to study at Boston City Campus, said he did not think he was going to win, but that he is glad he did.

“I researched to find funding for my studies and applied for as many as I could. The Glen Bursary was one of them.

I applied because I couldn’t afford tertiary education and I wanted to go to school and achieve my career goals.

“I want to study commerce because I want to be an entrepreneur. I believe that the course I am taking will assist me in achieving my academic objectives.

“From a young age, I have always dreamt of being in business. I remember how during a career day in Grade Seven I chose to be an entrepreneur. That is when I set my goal of being a successful entrepreneur and I am still on the journey of achieving that goal. My mantra is to stay focused on my goal because I know what I want,” said Njabulo.

He said he knows that tertiary studies come with distractions and peer pressure from friends but that it will never distract him from achieving what he wants.

“I have been surrounded by people who could have distracted me, but I have never been distracted and it won’t start now,” Njabulo said.

“Having been chosen means a lot to me. I’d like to thank The Glen for giving me this opportunity and I’m grateful to my parents.”

Supportive mom

Noluthando Mdletshe, Njabulo’s mother, said she was in tears of happiness when she learned that he had been chosen.

“This is a significant achievement. I’ve been concerned about the fees for a long time because Njabulo’s father and I are both unemployed. I will make sure that he does not waste this opportunity and I will encourage him to work hard and continue to make us proud,” Noluthando said.

A word or two

Njabulo attended Sir John Adamson High School. He is the oldest of three siblings. On September 20, he will turn 20.

Purple is his favourite colour and in his spare time, he enjoys watching movies and hopes to one-day direct one.
Njabulo advises anyone interested in applying for this bursary to work hard during their matric year.

“I believe I received the bursary through hard work, determination and confidence. I would advise anyone interested in competing to learn the skills and apply them correctly,” he said.

Njabulo said he wanted the youth to know that it was good to have role models, but it is better to step outside the box and have their perspective.

“They must believe in themselves first for others to believe in them. Whatever dreams they have, they must do a lot of research and ensure that whatever they dream of is what they want to pursue,” enthused Njabulo.