Shoprite Group

About the Shoprite Group

The Shoprite Group is the largest food retailer in Africa. It trades through the Shoprite, Checkers, Checkers Hyper, Usave and OK Furniture brands. Its head office is in Brackenfell, Cape Town. Thousands of stores serve shoppers in South Africa and more than a dozen other African countries. With well over one hundred thousand staff, it is also one of the biggest private employers on the continent.

Running a business of that size takes more than shops. The Group has a large logistics and distribution network, plus its own farming and fresh-produce supply operations.

How Shoprite supports students

The Shoprite bursary matches the skills the business needs. Recent calls have covered accounting on the chartered accountant stream, biological and agricultural sciences, food science, retail business management, and supply chain and logistics. Some years have added data science and information technology. Retail business management has usually had the most places.

Awards generally cover tuition, prescribed books and an accommodation allowance. Reported values range from about R30 000 to R60 000 a year, depending on the field and the institution. For example, a retail management student at a university of technology will often receive a different amount from a chartered accountancy candidate.

The choice of fields is deliberate. Supply chain and retail graduates feed the buying, logistics and store-operations teams. Agriculture and food science graduates link to the farming division and fresh-produce chain. As a result, the bursary is a way to secure future skills, not only a charitable gift.

Retail also offers many careers beyond the till. Buyers, planners, logistics managers, food technologists and farm specialists all keep a large food business running, so these fields lead to varied work.

What to know before applying

Recent calls required South African citizens aged 27 or younger. Applicants applied online during the annual window, which usually opens in the first half of the year. Read the current advert for the minimum marks, the study institutions that qualify and the documents you must upload.

Several bursary information sites report a work-back commitment of one year of service for every year of funding. Shoprite's own published material does not set out the exact terms in the same detail. Therefore, ask the Group's bursary office to confirm the obligations in writing before you accept an offer. That way you will know whether a service period applies, and how long it lasts.

The number of places in each field is small compared with the number of applicants. Therefore, submit a complete application early and check which qualifications and institutions the advert lists.