• Altron has announced its intention to launch an ICT skills focussed education trust.
• The trust will be used to help learners related to Altron employees or further afield to pursue an ICT education.
• The fund will assist students from households where the income is below R600 000 per annum.

Back in 1965 Dr Bill Venter launched a company he named Allied Electric. Today that company is known as Altron and its one of the biggest names in ICT locally. With interests in fintech, healthtech, security and more, the company announced this morning that it would be making moves to launch an education fund.

To that end, per a SENS announcement, Altron will be launching a sustainable ICT skills focussed education trust. This fund will be named Ascent and will become a broad-based trust that will act as the B-BBEE partner through which the funding will be assigned and distributed.

“Altron believes that the Transaction provides a unique opportunity to be a catalyst for South Africa’s societal advancement and industry innovation. With these core values in mind, the Transaction will be used to enhance the current employee value proposition by providing funding to qualifying employees’ relatives and other stakeholders within the Altron ecosystem, giving them access to information and communication technology (“ICT”) related education opportunities to address the increasing
scarcity of ICT skills in South Africa,” Altron told shareholders.

The company says that the forthcoming fund will be at least 50 percent independent, at least 50 percent black and at least 25 percent of trustees should be black women. The chairperson of the trust will be independent and won’t have a casting vote.

Importantly, Altron wants this fund to be sustainable in that it shouldn’t rely on external bank funding, shares of Altron appreciating or dividend payments. However, the company will provide support if it is needed for Ascent to reach its stated goals.

While the goal is to improve access to ICT skills in South Africa, there is the benefit of this keeping Altron’s B-BBEE score within acceptable ranges, something it notes to its shareholders.

Of note is that Altron hopes to assist those wanting to pursue a career in the ICT field but come from a household where annual income is below R600 000 per annum.

“As South Africa’s original technology brand, we’re passionate about solving real-world problems, from the everyday to the epic. Businesses like ours can help tackle the very real problem of rising youth unemployment by bridging the skills gap and empowering young people for future jobs. I am proud to introduce Ascent – an ICT skills focused education trust. Ascent will support young talent through bursaries and help foster an ecosystem of innovation and growth,” chief executive officer at Altron, Werner Kapp, said of the announcement.

Altron hopes to launch Ascent fully by 31st July but if all goes well, it could launch by 15th July. Frankly, the conditions aren’t that complex and we doubt there will be any pushback in this regard.

Once the fund has been launched we suspect Altron will provide more details about how folks can apply to get funding for their studies. With ICT skills among the most in-demand in South Africa, more investment in training and education in the field is most welcome.

[Image – WOKANDAPIX from Pixabay]