The Novus Academy is proud to encourage the personal growth and development of young apprentices. On Thursday, 03 August 2017, Novus Academy apprentices celebrated their first phase theoretical graduation; this is the seventh intake of apprentices to celebrate the milestone. The ceremony marked the achievement of an important point in their three-year programme – apart from receiving their Novus Academy certificates for phase 1, they also received certificates for various other courses that include Health and Safety, First Aid, Firefighting, Computer Literacy (ICDL) and Maths. The Academy celebrated the achievement of the top three apprentices: in first place, Mpho Nelly Mangena with 89.53% (Printers Electrician theory); and in second and third places, respectively, Vishanth Maharaj with 89.49% and Dharshan Singh with 88.53% (Electrician theory).
Significantly, in Women’s Month, the Academy’s first placed apprentice is of the fairer sex. Mpho Nelly Mangena, 25, has been employed by Paarl Coldset City Deep since January 2017 and, having passed her theory component with flying colours, now holds a certificate in Printers Electrician theory. This trade involves the installation, commissioning and maintenance of printing and binding machines, within a range of industry contexts and processes. Mpho’s journey began when she spent three months at City Deep to get to grips with the printing industry’s value chain. Thereafter, she started her formal training programme at Novus Academy – gaining knowledge-based learning in phase 1 and obtaining the highest score by achieving an 89.53% aggregate. Over the next 30 months, Mpho will complete her practical (phase 2) and work experience training (phase 3) at Paarl Coldset and in collaboration with SAJ Competency Training Institute. We wish her every success as her career progresses.
“We applaud every apprentice who has shown progress, while working towards their goal of becoming a qualified artisan. We are pleased to see that young people are eager to learn and want a career in [these] trades,” says Nico Grobbelaar, group executive of human resources at Novus Holdings.
The Novus Academy has, since its inception in 2011, boasted top achievers for final trade test results – with the highest mark being 99.40%. A total of 194 apprentices have to date been indentured with the FP&M Seta, of which 86 have thus far qualified in their trades.
