Petra graduated with a degree in Accounting last year and is now studying towards a BAcc Honours degree. This top achiever, who matriculated from Duineveld High School, took on a student loan to fund her studies.

"The bursary brought hope in a year of incredible uncertainty for me and my family," she explains.

"Bursaries give opportunities to those who lack them and help students to focus on their studies and reach their potential without a financial burden weighing them down."

Petra earned distinctions for every subject during her undergraduate studies and plans to start her articles and qualify as a chartered accountant as soon as she has completed her honours degree.

According to another bursary recipient, Sha-baan Slamang, he does not know how he would have made it without the support of the Dippenaar Family Trust.

He also graduated in 2020 and is now part of Shoprite Checkers’ supply chain graduate programme. He has been accepted for his master’s degree at SU and plans to continue exploring education policy development.

The Dippenaar Family Trust has been contributing to a better future for talented Matie students for the past 25 years. In 2021, their annual contribution will assist up to 25 students in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences.

Their support enables students to focus on their studies without worrying about the financial implications. Most of the bursary recipients come from the "missing middle" – a term coined to define university students who do not qualify for state financial aid and whose families cannot afford to pay for their studies. 

According to Estelle Dippenaar, they are passionate about and derive deep pleasure and satisfaction from assisting these students.

"Our philanthropy is completely focused on tertiary education. The more trained people we have to manage our country, the better. Having a degree can help someone get a foot in the door, and that person may become a decisionmaker one day."

The Dippenaars believe in building relationships with bursary holders and hosts a Dippenaar Family Trust dinner each year. A virtual meeting was held in 2020, but Dippenaar hopes that they will be able to go ahead with the dinner planned for this year.

What pleases her, is that many of the beneficiaries indicate that they hope to assist someone else in a similar way one day. She finds this chain reaction very gratifying.

In Petra’s words: “I would encourage everyone who has the means to contribute to such a cause – it will cause such relief and happiness for many families and help to build a better South Africa with more educated residents.”