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Sasol - Developing Science in Africa
John Collings, Sasol
Sasol is a leader among South African companies when it comes to engaging in long-term research. Each year it spends hundreds of millions of rands seeking new ways to derive more profit from the Fischer-Tropsch chemical engineering process that lies at the core of its business of turning coal into petrol other fuels and petrochemicals.
Much of that money is spent on the salaries of 300 or so graduate scientists and engineers - 75 of whom have earned a PhD - engaged in research and development. But they are merely part of a far larger community of 2 500 scientists and engineers needed to ensure optimum operation and maintenance
of Sasol's unique plants.
Sasol invests heavily in research and development because its products face ever tougher competition in South African and export markets from those derived from crude oil. Mining coal, gasifying it, then using the Fischer-Tropsch process to produce the hydrocarbon molecules needed for petrol and Sasol's other products inevitably costs more than pumping crude oil. The only way Sasol has become competitive is by investing heavily in research and development to achieve more efficient Fischer-Tropsch reactors and catalysts, and separation processes that will produce a steadily widening range of chemicals from the reactors' product streams.
A steady supply of graduate scientists and engineers is therefore vital to Sasol. This is vital to South Africa too, because SA's manufacturing sector as a whole faces the same competition challenges as Sasol does, and must also become more technologically sophisticated if it is to meet them. That is why Sasol has for the past five or more years taken special steps not only to support the production of graduates who will be formally equipped to begin working for it, but also to stimulate and encourage interest in science, engineering and technology in the population at large.
Though Sasol has global ambitions that are steadily being realised, its financial fortunes still depend primarily on the health of the South African economy. Hence, its major financial support for the annual Sasol SciFest held each year in Grahamstown.
Sasol Scifest features lectures by top international and SA speakers; a broad range of workshop topics; interactive exhibitions; films; field-trips; a play fair; a street parade; science olympics; high school quizzes; primary school "treasure hunt" quizzes; lively Sunset Shows and more!
It is known as the Sasol SciFest because it has enjoyed Sasol's support - which currently runs to R1 million a year, or about 80 per cent of the festival's total annual costs - ever since it was first held in 1997. That has enabled it to steadily increase the range and number of demonstrations put on for its tens of thousands of visitors, and to attract lecturers and presenters from overseas - including Nobel Prize winners - as well as local institutions.
Sasol also finances an annual outreach initiative launched by Sasol SciFest in 2001 - called Sasol SciFest on the road, a travelling lecture series visiting various centres throughout Southern Africa and sharing some of the essence of the festival.
South Africa will not succeed in producing sufficient science, engineering and technology graduates to meet the needs of its manufacturing sector, schools, universities and research institutions unless the standard of teaching in those subjects is greatly improved, especially in traditionally black schools.
Sasol has been financially supporting the upgrade of science teachers in
previously disadvantaged schools in Sasolburg in the Free State and Secunda in Mpumalanga, where its factories are located. It has also identified
previously disadvantaged schools around the country which, judging by the success at university of their matriculants, have good maths and science teachers. Sasol supports
these schools by improving the facilities needed to achieve even better results.
Sasol's biggest financial commitment to the production of graduates lies, however, in its university bursary scheme. In 2001 it provided 450 bursaries at a cost for that year alone of R18 million. Half of the bursaries are awarded through open competition. The other half are reserved for people of colour, women and the physically handicapped.
Bursary winners enter Sasol's Graduate Development Programme as soon as their university careers begin; providing a week-long induction programme to help prepare them for the demands and, for many matriculants, strange and frightening environment of university. University students in their second or later years can also apply for Sasol bursaries. If their studies have gone well, their chances of Sasol bursary are pretty good; while 81 of Sasol's bursaries for 2001 went to first-year students, 92 were given to third-year students and 125 to those in their final year.
Bursary holders are obliged, in terms of their agreement with Sasol, to work for it for as many years as they received a bursary from it. During that time they will work in one or more business units for 18-24 months, getting to feel at home in Sasol and receiving focused development in their discipline. Thereafter, they are prepared for their professional qualifications, such as professional engineer or chartered accountant.
Beyond that lies a period of 4-10 years, during which Sasol's graduate employees are offered a wide range of technical skills and personal development programmes. It is during these years that the individual usually decides what kind of a career he or she wants to pursue in Sasol - no one is locked into one area; a design engineer, for example, could switch over to marketing without anyone raising an eyebrow - and which further qualifications such aims will require. Whatever course of study might be required, Sasol backs it with practical support - and a ladder of programmed development that reaches right up to the position of chief operations officer.
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