Oasis

Oasis Group Holdings is a Cape Town-headquartered financial services group, founded in June 1997, specialising in Sharia-compliant and broader ethical investment management, including unit trusts and retirement/pension products for retail and institutional clients. Trading under the Oasis Crescent brand for its Islamic finance offering, the group has expanded beyond South Africa to operate in Ireland (with a Dublin-based offshore subsidiary) and other international markets, alongside domestic offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.

Asset and fund management is a specialised, technically demanding field requiring qualified actuaries, chartered accountants, quantitative analysts and investment professionals — skills in short supply in South Africa generally and in Sharia-compliant finance specifically, a niche discipline requiring expertise in both conventional finance and Islamic jurisprudence. Oasis's bursary programme targets exactly this pipeline, funding Business Science and Commerce, Engineering and Built Environment, Law, Science, and Multimedia/IT degrees, plus selected honours and master's study, for academically strong students.

Oasis is explicit about its work-back terms: bursary holders are required, upon graduating, to work for the company for a period equivalent to the duration of the bursary they received — a direct, contractually structured exchange of funding for future service rather than a no-strings grant.

Like all South African asset managers, Oasis operates under the regulatory oversight of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, and its bursary programme forms part of a broader effort within the local investment industry to widen the pool of Black and previously disadvantaged finance professionals entering an otherwise narrow talent pipeline.