Power Grids Education Trust
The Power Grids Education Trust is a shareholder of Hitachi Energy South Africa.
Set up in February 2021, the Trust wishes to contribute in a meaningful and sustainable way to enhance the standard of living and improve the well-being primarily of previously disadvantaged people and to assist in their development and empowerment.
To this end the trust intends to contribute to the empowerment and upliftment of black woman in South Africa, and will provide scholarships, bursaries and awards for study and research primarily in engineering and related fields of study.
equip
upskill
young female talent
STEM sector
educational future
producing thought leaders
About Power Grids Education Trust
Power Grids Education Trust is a locally created association that aims to support underprivileged females who are not able to financially support their educational future. Our purpose is to equip and upskill young female talent, within the STEM industry to enable them to transition into thought leaders in the industry.
Science
Technology
Engineering
Maths
Vision
Advancing a Sustainable Energy Future.
Global Challenges
Power Grids Education Trust is committed to solving some of the biggest global challenges of our time. This is made possible by our exceptional talent, which embraces diversity and collaboration to produce great innovation.
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The company has ambitious 2025 diversity and inclusion goals under Diversity 360, which is perceived as a business imperative. Diversity in thought and experience makes for a dynamic, solutions-orientated culture of innovation and collaboration that allows its people to realise their highest potential and empowers them to deliver on its mission to power good for sustainable energy.
Driving Diversity
Our trustees firmly believe it is important that organisations have diversity high on their agenda. We are passionate about moving forward with this project which is suitable for our organisational culture. Diversity makes for better dialogues and insight from various skill sets, talents, and experiences, which leads to increased performance and efficiencies. Having different women thinkers on a board definitely brings a lot of positivity and diversity.”
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“Diversity and inclusion are critical factors to take into consideration in the workplace. However, it should not be a tick-box exercise for meeting quotas. Instead, it should be a meaningful shift in the business and should be incorporated into our culture. Diversity does not only include racial and gender diversity, but also age and sexual orientation. Power Grids Education Trust endeavors to support a workplace with diversity and inclusion by creating learning opportunities in the STEM sector.
Transformation & Equity
Transformation and Equity is an integral part of our Broad-based Black Empowerment structure, it also contributes to the upliftment of previously disadvantaged women.
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Power Grids Education Trust is moving towards a more diverse and inclusive workplace. The aim is for women to achieve senior leadership levels within their own organisations and to focus on authenticity, humility, integrity, hard work and consistent development.
“Put in the hours, don’t compromise on the quality of work, and do not have unrealistic expectations of how quickly you can reach the senior levels,”
We believe in empowering our employees in creating an environment where everyone can bring their best self to work every day.
Women in engineering
In the past, women were not encouraged to follow a career path in engineering. However, over the years there has been a substantial positive shift within the industry, with more women choosing engineering as a career. “We need to work together as the leadership team to create a new way of thinking about this top-priority topic of making a meaningful change in the world and workplace.
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world
Nelson Mandela
Meet the Trustees
Michelle Sampson
Country Finance Director, Sub-Saharan Africa Hitachi Energy
Michelle Sampson is the Country Finance Director for Sub-Saharan Africa of Hitachi Energy.
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She focuses on setting up all governance structures and funding requirements of the new entity, overseeing the financial staff, providing the strategic and financial guidance, developing, and maintaining sound financial policies, developing and controlling the company’s annual operating budget, ensuring compliance to the financial and statutory regulations, among other things.
Michelle joined ABB ZA in September 2017 as a Chief Financial Officer for the South and Southern Africa region where she led the divestment of the Southern Africa portion of the Power Grids business from ABB to Hitachi Energy.
Before joining ABB ZA, Michelle was an Audit Manager at KPMG, Senior Financial Advisor; Management Accounting Manager at Eskom, Finance Director at Cinemark, and Finance Director at Primedia Broadcasting for over 11 years.
Michelle’s academic background includes a Bachelor of Commerce (BCom degree) and a Post Graduate Diploma in accounting from the University of Cape Town. Michelle is also a licensed and certified Chartered Accountant (CA) in the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Lesley Donna Williams
CEO of Wits University’s Tshimologong Precinct
Lesley is the CEO of Wits University’s Tshimologong Precinct that aims to take African digital innovation to global markets through entrepreneurship and skills development.
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She founded Impact Hub Johannesburg in 2010 to advance social innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa.
Lesley has 20 years international experience in curating innovation ecosystems and networks with a primary focus on social and digital innovation. She moderates dialogue and facilitates change processes, creating common ground between diverse public and private stakeholders. A career highlight was moderating a dialogue on Nelson Mandela’s legacy and the Future of Africa between President Barack Obama and Graça Machel at the African American Museum in Washington DC. Lesley has been bestowed Chevalier de l’Ordre national du mérite (Knight of the French National Order of Merit).
Mercy Shuma-Iwisi
Senior Lecturer in the School of Electrical & Information Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand
Mercy Shuma-Iwisi is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Electrical and Information Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand.
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Mercy has a long academic career in Engineering Education which spans over three decades. Mercy is passionate about bolstering the participation of women in engineering fields of study. The Power Grid Education Trust to which Mercy is a proud Trustee is a catalyst to achieve the desired goal of increasing the participation of women in engineering fields of study. Mercy is driven by the philosophy that “Time is Finite, Optimize its Use for the Good of Humanity.