Konica Minolta South Africa assists Cape Town opera protégé, Anelisa Mahlungulu, in moving closer to achieving her dreams.  

CAPE TOWN - September 17, 2014 – Bidvest company, Konica Minolta South Africa has pledged to assist a promising young opera singer in need.

Cape Town branch manager, Alten Hulme, heard a plea for financial assistance on local radio station, Cape Talk. The presenter mentioned that a 16-year-old girl with a natural talent for opera had been ‘discovered’ in a Cape Town township.

With the assistance of the local community choirmaster and a charity organisation within the township, Anelisa Mahlungulu had been tested by the University of Cape Town (UCT) with the result that the institution recognised her rare gift. The University also advised that she needed to be enrolled in a school that would allow for university exemption. UCT further identified Wynberg Girls’ High as the ideal school, but Anelisa needed financial assistance to help her move forward.

On hearing the request, Hulme immediately sprang into action by calling the radio station and on behalf of Konica Minolta South Africa, he offered to sponsor Anelisa’s schooling and hostel costs. Konica Minolta South Africa will also sponsor Anelisa’s music lessons until the end of her matric year.  Waltons, another Bidvest Group company, has also agreed to fund Anelisa’s stationery, transportation and uniforms.

Anelisa has since begun her third term in Grade 10 at Wynberg Girls’ High, where she has her own room in the hostel and now too has her very own bed. Anelisa receives three cooked meals a day and, for the first time ever, she is now able to study at a desk. Since the initial outreach, she has performed for a number of dignitaries, including a teary-eyed Archbishop Desmond Tutu. She also sang before a large audience at an outdoor venue which earned her a standing ovation that lasted several minutes for her first full 90 minute performance.

“Although Konica Minolta South Africa’s primary focus is to see to it that Anelisa does well enough at school to be admitted to university, the company will also do what is needed to support her singing career. In fact, we have already been in touch with Cape Town Opera (CTO), Africa’s top opera company, which has undertaken to expose her to real opera and to assist in the learning process. Konica Minolta South Africa already has a very strong sense of community, with several projects in place that identify and assist not only staff members’ children, but also children with potential from poor communities. Anelisa fits perfectly into this category and we will follow our new ‘Proudly Bidvest’ and Konica Minolta South Africa protégé with great interest in the years to come,” says Hulme.

About  
Konica Minolta South Africa is a leader in advanced document management technologies. Wholly owned by the Bidvest Group, the company focuses on complete business solutions, including production print systems, digital presses, multifunctional products (MFPs), managed print services, vertical application solutions and related services and supplies. Konica Minolta is one of the only manufacturers in the digital imaging industry, over the past 20 years, to have been awarded the Buyers Laboratory LLC (BLI) “A3 MFP line of the year” award for four consecutive years.

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