Winning accolades comes naturally to Durban University of Technology’s (DUT’s) Fanie Ndlovu, a Masters Student in Information and Communications Technology, (ICT) and brainchild of VarsityGenie, a student leadership platform.

The dynamic lad has been the recipient of several awards which are for his sterling work on developing the skills of young people in communities and townships through VarsityGenie, and to make it easier for young people to access guidance and resources.

His awards include winning the DUT Community Engagement Student of Year Awards for 2020 and 2021, the EBL Coach Tenacity 2021 award and the Enactus DUT Partner of the Year 2021 award.

Speaking on his organisation, Ndlovu relayed that he had started VarsityGenie with a mission to empower individuals and organisations to better world communities.

“The mission has inspired and driven me every day and still does today. The organisations and individuals I am usually working with are those that strive to better communities. Through VarstiyGenie capacities (skills and knowledge), we helped many to achieve their community work objectives. Receiving the Partner of the Year award from Enactus DUT was a great validation we are living our mission,” he said ecstatically.

In addition, he highlighted that receiving the Community Engagement Student of the Year award also proves his commitment to helping DUT to achieve ENVISION2030 through empowering students to be adaptive graduates who restore communities, as well as the EBL Coach Tenacity award he had received for his die-hard spirit for their mission.

He further indicated that with each award his aim is to enhance his role at DUT.

“As we know DUT is rising towards achieving its strategic plan, ENVISION2030, and the work ahead is very big and DUT needs its community to achieve. As a member of the DUT community every day I am striving to contribute,” he explained.

Ndlovu conveyed that the two ENVISION2030 strategic objective perspectives he is most interested in are the Digital Environment (System and Processes) and Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Society).

“Regarding Digital Environment, I am working with a few units within the university to help them automate their processes to run efficiently and effectively. We aim to help more and more units. For Innovation and Entrepreneurship, as all academic departments are mandated to have Entrepreneurial activities, I am planning to help and provide advice to departments to execute them well,” he said.

Ndlovu plays a vital role in encouraging female IT students to grow their craft, and to nurture such talent, especially women IT entrepreneurs.

“Information Communication Technology is changing the world of work rapidly, with COVID-19 accelerating the speed of organisations adopting the technology. The unfortunate fact of fast adoption speed is that gender inequity in the ICT sector also becomes wider as there is also slow progress toward bridging the gap. According to Women in Tech ZA, only 23% of tech jobs are held by women in South Africa-out of 236 000 ICT roles, women occupy 56 000 roles,” said Ndlovu.

For 2022, Ndlovu indicated that his focus will be to contribute toward gender equality in the ICT sector. His objectives are to help five women get certified with Microsoft Azure Fundamental certificate which will increase their employability.

“To also help five women get certified with Microsoft Power Platform Fundamentals. There is an increase of adoption of low code, no-code solution deployment by companies. Lastly, I want to help five women ICT entrepreneurs start their businesses and get funding,” he commented.

Currently, Ndlovu with his team are working on a project with DUT Enactus to design a Smart Greenhouse, that will be equipped with sensors to monitor the health of the plants; as well as to continue working on the DVC RIE Engagement Web App.

“Last year I helped DUT Ninjas to secure business funding. The next step is to help them to set up their business,” he added.

Ndlovu’ s role at DUT has grown in leaps and bounds, and he is already doing so much through VarsityGenie. He expressed that in the past few years many students who were part of VarsityGenie have been getting jobs in big companies, getting invited to speak at international summits, and traveling the world.

“My main focus around this area is to go back to those who benefited and mentor them to empower others,” he said.

He conveyed that DUT plays a huge role in all that he does, indicating that VarsityGenie exists today because of DUT.

“In 2017, I started simply by helping Grade 12 learners to apply for NSFAS online. My department (IT Department) opened the lab for us to use on Saturdays and Sundays and even ensured there is a technician on weekends to help us. Without such support from the beginning, I would have given up and only focused on my academics. But such extraordinary support inspired me to do more, we hosted events and requested more support from the university. During hosting these events I met people who helped me to join the Google programme,” he said.

Ndlovu conveyed that through that programme, he had an opportunity to travel to Kenya, where Google covered the costs. He also won awards (two in 2018, one in 2020, and three in 2021), using a portfolio of the work he has been doing with the university.

“Also, my work with the university opened the opportunity to go to Thailand and Netherlands, however due to COVID-19 the trips were cancelled,” he said.

Pictured: Fanie Ndlovu with one of his awards.

Waheeda Peters