Award winning ICT distributor, Esquire, has announced the launch of a ‘school project’ fund to assist staff members to cope with the costs many parents face with new school years.

Said Asgar Mahomed, MD of Esquire: “With the festive season now over many of our employees did not have enough money to start off the new year to purchase school books and uniforms, which is increasingly becoming a burden for parents -especially on the pricing that has hiked on stationery and other items.

“We discovered that some of our staff members were even considering taking out micro loans to raise money so we decided to launch a fund earlier this year and have been assisted staff members as best we can with their costs. “

Mahomed said the company views its staff members as valuable assets. “Many of our staff members put in overtime without asking questions. They are committed and assist with the growth and financial health of Esquire. We don’t want them to be burdened by additional financial worries while they are working for the company. This is a way to show our appreciation.”

Esquire is also launching a bursary fund which will be implemented during the course of this year to help  staff members who have children that have completed Grade 10 and are looking for a career path in IT or the financial services sector.

“The idea is to get those kids to work part time at Esquire and gain experience in the  ‘real world’- and at the same time ‘pay back’  that bursary in the form of  hours worked at Esquire.

“We will still be coming out with a plan of action, which our staff members will be briefed on once we completed our feasibly study as it is first time that Esquire has put in place such a project for staff members  -and we need to make sure it done correctly.”

This year Esquire has already helped over 40 staff members who have children in school via the Gift for School project. Every staff member is assisted, irrespective of how many children they have.   Staff members are given vouchers by the company to purchase items for the new school year.