By Kamvalethu Booi
The Allan Gray Achievement Awards is an annual event hosted at five universities around the country. The engagement was established more than 10 years ago at Rhodes University.
On 28 September 2023, Rhodes hosted the event for its top achievers. The awards were given to participants according to their year of study.
The winners who are in their second-year category are Gift Sekhu who won R8000 and Air pods, and Nomfundo Ximba, who won R5000.
Third-year winners are Zamokuhle Khuzwayo, who won R15 000, and Air Pods. Siphelele Futhusi won R8 000, and in third place is Sinoko Sonkosi, who took home R4 000.
The fourth-year winners were Nestor Walsh who went home with an amazing R20 000. In second place was Ntsako Simango with R15 000 and in third place was Mncedisi Makaula with R10 000.
When speaking to Grocott’s Mail, fourth-year winner Makaula says, “It felt great. It was a feeling I needed and a reminder that I am doing my best and I must continue doing more. To be recognized is one thing but to finally see your efforts pay off is something else. Winning the amount felt good but it was more about the prize, the recognition especially by Allan Gray.”
He added that he would invest his winnings into business. “It’s going to kickstart my new small retail project. It came at the right time,” he said.
Katherine Swartland, who is part of organising the Allan Grey Achievements Awards, says that the success of the programme lies in the key relationship between Prof. Dave Sewry, Dean of the Commerce Faculty at Rhodes University, and Allan Gray executive Faizil Jakoet. The awards stem from Rhodes University’s good track record for producing top-achieving students.
Swartland, also explains that Allan Gray collaborated with Prof. Sewry and decided to make this a two-format programme. “The award ceremony starts off as a competition then turns to an awards event where the student and the faculty members spend time together and mingle with each other,” said Swartland.
The initiative invited the top 100 students across Commerce, Business Science, and Sciences departments to participate in a challenge. The challenge is a short essay submission that gets students to think both critically and creatively, whilst allowing the organizers to develop a better relationship with the students.
“We host an Awards event where we reward the competition winners, and we network with the students in a cocktail evening,” said Swartland. Guest speakers were also part of the awards evening, to inspire the students as they think about their future and the impact they hope to make in the world.
The event also allows them to build relationships that might create job opportunities at Allan Grey, all whilst they celebrate students who resonate with their values and continue to maintain the standard of top performance.
Speaking to Grocott’s Mail about further expanding the competition, Swartland states that they would rather leave it as it is because it is targeted at top-achieving students. This approach works because when students found out about the rewards, most of them were shocked because they did not expect to win such big amounts.
“It came as a surprise to the students to win such amounts. They were shocked to learn that they were receiving money as a prize, which then encouraged more students to show interest and promise themselves to be part of the competition next year,” says Swartland.
