BY KWANELE TSABEDZE
KWALUSENI – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) were the order of the day yesterday as the Royal Science and Technology Park (RSTP) hosted a STEM expo.
The second annual ‘STEM Careers and Skills of the Future Expo’ gave learners who attended the event exposure to career opportunities in STEM, in addition to participating in competitions where E30,000 was won by learners from at least 16 different schools from around the country. Learners were empowered to be the next leaders in STEM by professionals in STEM fields in the country.
Speaking at the expo, Executive Director of Cerium Scientific and Chief Executive Officers of Lifespan Diagnostics inspired the learners to put STEM in the centre of their ideas as they explore different interests.
“Please make sure you actually participate in policies which will affect you”, said Matsebula.
She further encouraged the youth to be brave in asking companies in the country what they need in terms of skills based on their future outlooks. Her remarks were also articulated by Cerium Scientific’s Head of Business Development, Simphiwe Ginindza.
“We have different departments and in all these departments we have different career trajectories. In science, we have biomedical engineers. We have so many types of equipment we’re placing in schools, private clinics, and government hospitals. These require lab technicians. There is also laboratory science, which has different types of opportunities under it. And of course, every enterprise needs human resources, it needs business development, and it needs proprietary supply chain controls. Those are the opportunities available,” said Ginindza when speaking about the company’s future outlook.
Cerium Scientific was one of the sponsors of the STEM Expo. Other partners were Eswatini Bank, Eswatini Revenue Services, Stefanutti Stocks, Kellogg’s, (ESWADE), and the Eswatini Communications Commission (ESCCOM), the Youth Enterprise Revolving Fund (YERF), Eswatini Post and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC), WomEng Eswatini, and the University of Eswatini (UNESWA).
Speaking to learners on STEM careers in banking, Eswatini Bank’s Sikhumbuzo Dlamini revealed to the attendants that the bank’s hiring was mostly focused on ICT going forward.
“Probably we all have some interaction in some form with a bank – the career opportunities in the bank are based on how we want to be served. We are looking more into the digital ICT space. We do have engineers, it could be software or physical engineers. The goal is automation – so we will solely be focusing on intaking from the ICT space. We have more ATM’s and transactions over the internet, so basically, banking will be changing in a few years time so I would encourage people to expand their efforts more into the digital space,” said Dlamini.
ESCCOM’s Senzo Mgometulu also encouraged learners to look into ICT and engineering programmes if they want to be part of the future as being enacted by ESCCOM. He revealed that ESCCOM will be running the data protection and regulatory services in the country.”
“What I would urge most of you to do is to check the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) website, and check the careers section,” said Mngometulu, highlighting that there are a lot of work from home internships.
Another speaker, Brenda Mthembe who is an Information Systems Technologist at RSTP, spoke of opportunities for computer scientists, networking experts, data experts, cloud computing experts, disaster recovery, as well as information security experts at the RSTP.
“I would like to encourage everyone to be versatile as well, but make sure the centre of STEM is where you want to be,” added Mthembe as someone who works in marketing.
On the engineering front, Mayibongwe Hlophe who is a Site Engineer at Stefanutti Stocks revealed the breadth of skills which are currently required in the construction sector.
Mayobongwe Hlophe – Site Engineer at Steffanutti Stocks, Hilton, FNB , Manzini golf interchange.
“With the growth, the company has diversified. We do have accountants, environmentalist officers, and then when we go to the ground, we need quantity surveyors, civil engineers, safety officers. A vast majority of the jobs are in site engineering,” revealed Hlophe.
Representing the Youth Enterprise Fund, Mcebo Magongo encouraged learners to consider getting funding for their STEM innovations as the fund is currently promoting such.
“We encourage them to apply for the loan and repay it. As a young person, you can access up to E50,000 without the need for collateral,” said Magongo.
After all the speeches, learners who had entered the competitions under different categories were awarded for their innovations. In total, E30,000 was distributed among learners from over 16 different schools in the country.
Some of the schools who went home with achievements from the expo were Nkiliji Primary School, St Michael’s High School, Duze High School, Njubukweni High School, Lubombo Central High School, St Mark’s High School, Evelyn Baring Primary School, Salesian High School, St Theresa’s High School, as well as Khuzweni High School to name a few.
The students were awarded for various innovations in the fields of Design and Technology, Science, Mathematics, and Engineering. The learners proudly displayed their innovations for renewable energy in the form of houses powered by alternative sources of electricity from St Theresa’s, as well as for climate protection in the form of sugar processing plants which did not emit pollutants by Lubombo Central High School learners. Other notable projects were a robotic arm by Eduze High School, as well as a solar-powered boat working model by Kwanele Khumalo.
Speaking on learning opportunities in STEM, RSTP’s Senzo Malaza revealed that the Advanced School of IT at the RSTP Innovation Park in Phocweni will now become the Profession Innovations Academy (PISA)
“We have an advanced school of IT which does take students from High school. The minimum requirement is 4 credits, one science and Maths,” said Malaza.
RSTP CEO Vumile Dlamini, who was represented at the event by RSTP Legal Officer, highlighted the importance of the annual STEM expo.
“We all need to join hands as we drive the country’s future, which is our children’s future, towards the STEM fields, as they are the future. Fortunately for us, all sectors of the economy now need one or more of the STEM fields, which means more jobs and business opportunities,” said the CEO.
