I am Chuma Mpelane and I am an ISFAP alumna, part of the very first cohort, the 2018 cohort!
I graduated with a BSc in Mathematics of Finance at Wits in 2020, then continued to do my honours in Business Finance in 2021. I currently work at FNB as a Client Services Consultant in the Foreign Exchange Product House.
In 2017, I didn’t qualify for most of the bursaries that I applied for because my parents are part of the working class, but didn’t have funding because they could not afford university fees. Then came ISFAP in 2018, at a time when I needed it the most, when I had no idea how I was going to pay for my tuition fees.
The journey with ISFAP has been amazing, throughout my university experience I literally felt like I had someone in my corner, cheering me up and rooting for me to succeed. If I were to explain it to someone, I would tell them that ISFAP is more than just financial support, it's your teacher when you are struggling with a module (we had private tutorials on weekends, which helped a lot!), it's your counsellor and safe space when you are going through a tough time, it's your motivation when you are writing exams. The support is out of this world. With ISFAP, I never felt alone, I always felt like I had an amazing community behind me.
More than anything, the journey with ISFAP was seamless. I feel blessed to have been a recipient of this bursary and I can't thank the ISFAP team and sponsors enough.
Thank you so much.
