SAPPI Learnerships by South African Pulp and Paper Industries Limited

About Sappi

Sappi is a global diversified wood fibre company focused on producing and selling commodity paper products, pulp, chemical cellulose, and forest and timber products for Southern Africa and export markets. Sappi Limited, originally incorporated as South African Pulp and Paper Industries Limited, was founded in 1936 and is headquartered in Johannesburg. The company was acknowledged as the world’s largest producer of dissolving wood pulp in 2013.

The dissolving wood pulp (specialised cellulose) produced by the company are used worldwide by converters to create viscose fibre for fashionable clothing and textiles, pharmaceutical products, as well as a wide range of consumer and household products. The quality specialities and packaging papers produced in the Sappi company are used in the manufacture of such products as soup sachets, luxury carry bags, cosmetic and confectionery packaging, boxes for agricultural products for export, tissue wadding for household tissue products and casting and release papers used by suppliers to the fashion, textiles, automobile and household industries. The company’s market-leading range of coated and uncoated graphic paper products are used by printers in the production of books, brochures, magazines, catalogues, direct mail, newspapers and many other print applications.

Photo by Dmitry Ratushny on Unsplash

Sappi Limited has over 12,500 employees in over 35 countries and manufacturing facilities in nine countries, on three continents (including Europe, America and Africa), and customers in over 100 countries across the globe. The mills that Sappi operate are located in Western Europe (with ten mills), the United States of America (with three mills) and Southern Africa (with four mills). The company owns 33 subsidiaries placed around the world listed as the following.

• Sappi North America
• Sappi South Africa Limited
• Sappi Europe SA
• Sappi Austria Produktions-GmbH & Co. KG
• Sappi Lanaken NV
• Sappi Fine Paper South Africa
• Sappi Cloquet LLC
• Sappi Alfeld GmbH
• Sappi Maastricht B.V.
• Sappi International SA
• Sappi Ehingen GmbH
• Sappi Papier Holding GmbH
• Sappi Lanaken Press Paper NV
• Sappi Nijmegen BV
• Sappi (U.K.) Ltd.
• Sappi Stockstadt GmbH
• Sappi Schweiz Ag
• Sappi Deutschland GmbH
• PE Paper Escrow GmbH
• Sappi Management Services (Pty) Ltd.
• SDW Holdings Corporation
• Sappi Fine Paper Europe
• Sappi Finland Operations Oy
• M-real Biberist AG
• Sappisure Försäkrings Ab
• Sappi Share Facilitation Company (Pty) Ltd.
• Trenfor Trading AG
• CN Papiervertriebs GmbH
• Sappi Trading Pulp AG
• Sappi Finland L Oy
• Sappi Saiccor (Pty) Ltd.
• Sappi’s Forest Products Division
• Sappi Pulp Asia Limited

Sappi South Africa has a combined production capacity of 685,000 tons of paper, 665,000 tons of paper pulp and over a million tons of dissolving wood pulp (DWP) per annum. The company’s headquarters in Johannesburg manages the sub-divisions of Sappi Forests, Sappi Paper and Paper Packaging, and Sappi Dissolving Wood Pulp. A number of regional functions like finance, human resources, sales and marketing, technical and engineering as well as board functions are also based there.

Sappi Limited’s goal is to be the most profitable company in the paper, pulp and chemical cellulose sectors. The company’s goal is supported by a new global business strategy to significantly improve the company’s profitability and returns. In 2017, the company achieved all of their short-term targets and made significant strides towards their 2020Vision, which sets various aspirational targets and goals for providing enhanced rewards to all their stakeholders. The company’s 2020Vision sets out a range of medium-term targets with the end goal of substantially increasing EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) by the conclusion of the decade. Each of Sappi Limited’s regions improved its operation performance and cash generation exceeded the company’s own goals, as a result, they now have greater flexibility to increase investments in strategic growth.

Sappi Limited believes that people are the key to success. They recruit people with quality and offer professional training programmes. The company ensures life-enriching career opportunities to committed and talented individuals. The development programmes provided by Sappi have an aim to attract highly motivated and dynamic individuals with the potential to become successful leaders, not just within Sappi Southern Africa, but globally. These skills development programmes offered consist of training programmes (engineers, technician and forester), learnership programmes, and internships. They also offer bursaries and scholarships.

Sappi Learnerships

At Sappi, enthusiastic, innovative young people are given the chance to build great portfolios, get valuable work experience and receive in depth training form experts. Just like other skill development programmes provided by Sappi, this learnership programme enhances the people’s ability to link theoretical or academic learning with the practical application to the real world of business.

A lot of people mistake learnerships as internships or apprenticeships when it is actually very different from each one of the two others mentioned. Learnerships are structured learning programmes that allow people to combine both theoretical and practical elements. These courses run in partnership with various FET Colleges and lead to a qualification that is registered on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF).

Minimum Requirements for the Enrolment in Sappi South Africa Learnerships

To enter the Sappi South Africa Learnerships, applicants must meet the following requisites.

• A citizen of South Africa with legal ID
• Aged between 18 and 25 years old when applying for the programme
• Have a Grade 12 certificate
• Passed Matric with 65% in English and 70% in both Mathematics and Physical Science
• Attach a detailed Curriculum Vitae (CV) to the application
• Proficient in English
• Have a valid driver’s license
• Must be a computer literate or have other applicable experience or knowledge
• Able to work individually and in a team

How to Apply for the Sappi Learnerships

Online applications for the Sappi Leanerships are currently unavailable. Those interested in attending the Sappi Learnership programmes may contact the following e-mails to apply.

bursary.recruitment@sappi.com or GIT.recruitment@sappi.com

Note: Job seekers are not to send their CV and/or any application document via e-mail. Any application document e-mailed to the mentioned addresses will be automatically deleted as job seekers may only register / apply on the Careers portal.

Short-listed candidates will be notified for an interview. Candidates may be assessed to determine if they have any competency gaps and whether they are the best fit for the job prior to potential employment. Candidates are selected based on the assessment results, interview results and CV.

To learn more about the Sappi Learnerships, please visit the official website.