• BASF in South Africa donates R200 000 to iGEMS programme.
• Programme aimed at supporting the study of Mathematics and Science amongst the disadvantaged communities of the Nelson Mandela Metropole.
• Collaborative venture aims to support the chemical and manufacturing industries by providing skilled talent.

BASF in South Africa made a donation today of R200 000 to the Incubating Great Engineering Minds (iGEMS) programme to support the study of Mathematics and Science amongst the disadvantaged communities in the Nelson Mandela Metropole. This is the second year that the company has supported this project.

iGEMS is a Nelson Mandela Bay based education-to-employment initiative led by the Unity in Africa Foundation, in partnership with Go for Gold and the Govan Mbeki Mathematics Development Unit of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.  It is a collaboration between companies and civil society created to improve the number of candidates from disadvantaged communities eligible to study towards a technical profession and secure employment.

The programme provides senior high school extra tuition in Mathematics and Science through after-school and Saturday morning tutoring, offers career guidance through an internship ‘gap’ year at the sponsoring companies, bridges the gap between school and university by providing courses in Mathematics and Science for the internship students in order to better prepare them for university studies, provides information on and access to bursaries for tertiary studies, develops pupils’ leadership and community service skills, secures employment with sponsoring companies, and focusses strongly on leadership development.

Launched in 2015 with an initial Grade 11 intake of 16 students, the 2016 intake has seen 13 of these students progress to their second year, and a new intake of 30 Grade 11 pupils.  According to iGEMS programme manager, Laurene Booth-Jones, iGEMS is particularly focused on aligning their programme with the needs of the automotive, construction and renewable energy sectors and related industries. “At iGEMS, we are committed to enabling growing numbers of young people from disadvantaged communities in the Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage area to benefit from our holistic education and leadership development programme,” she said.

BASF Country Cluster South Africa Head, Benoit Fricard, said that developing future engineers and scientists is crucial for the success of the chemical and manufacturing industries.  “At BASF we are firmly committed to supporting the upliftment of science, mathematics and engineering programmes that will ultimately support the sustainability of our industry,” he said.

BASF South Africa’s Port Elizabeth based Mobile Emissions Catalysts Site Director, Paul Allday said: “We are proud to be one of the initial companies that came on board last year to support this programme and believe that, down the line, we will have played a role in producing a pool of young talent who will be equipped for the workplace.”