Annika Thambo

Annika Thambo founded BursariesAfrica after a bursary paid for her own university studies. She graduated from North-West University with a Bachelor of Education degree, and she credits that financial support with helping her reach her goals.

That experience led Annika to start a blog, originally called South Africa Bursaries, to share details of the bursary programmes that open each year. She had gone through the search herself and knew how much of a student’s time it takes to work out which bursaries exist, which ones they qualify for, and when each one closes.

What the blog became

BursariesAfrica now tracks 949 bursaries, scholarships and learnerships, and publishes 332 researched profiles of the organisations that fund them. Alongside the main site it runs five sections of its own: Unisa, TVET colleges, universities, learnerships and SASSA grants.

An editorial team now does the writing and the checking, and 1,738 pages carry the name of the editor who verified them. Each section has editors who work to it: admissions and closing dates, NSFAS and student finance, TVET and college funding, and the provider research behind the profiles.

The green Verified badge on a page means an editor has compared what it says against the funder’s own website, and it carries the date on which they did so.

The approach she set

Annika still shapes what the site covers, and the brief has not changed since the blog: publish the practical detail a student needs to apply, and be straight about what is not known. Three rules follow from that, and every page on the site works to them.

• The provider is the source. A closing date, a set of requirements or an application link comes from the funder’s own website, prospectus or circular – not from another listing.
• A gap is reported, not filled. Where a provider publishes little, the page says so instead of guessing at a date or an amount.
• Students are sent to the funder. Every application link points at the provider’s own page, so nobody applies through a middleman.

Education

Bachelor of Education, North-West University.