Kumeshnie Nair attended Simon’s Town High School Lawhill Maritime Centre (“Lawhill”) on a Rialto Project bursary sponsored by the Futuregrowth Community Property Fund. Kumeshnie is originally from Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.

‘Growing up in Durban, the sea was always just there, not really a part of our lives but just there,’ recounts Kumeshnie. ‘The presenter from Transnet excited me about the prospect of a career in the maritime sector – he had a son at Lawhill. And the rest, as they say, is history.’

Kumeshnie attended Lawhill from 2018 to 2020 and was accepted for the 2021 Maersk Learnership Programme in Cape Town, a 12-month programme combining classroom based learning and practical work experience.

She performed so well during the internship, working across various teams where she obtained diverse knowledge of Maersk’s customer needs, that she was retained in a temporary role in the Customer Experience team when the 12-month learnership came to an end.

Kumeshnie has recently been appointed in a permanent role at Maersk as a Cargo Care Operator. The Cargo Care team is at the heart of Maersk’s operations and is focused on enabling cost efficient and smooth cargo operations for customers’ cargo to and from all Maersk vessels.

Kumeshnie is also currently studying part-time towards a Bachelor of Commence in Supply Chain Management through Regent Business School. “None of this would have been possible without the help of Mrs Owen, the Futuregrowth Community Property Fund and the Capital Land team, and I’ll always be grateful to you all” says Kumeshnie.