The Citrus Academy is a non-profit company established in 2005 by the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa to enable human resource development in the Southern African citrus industry. Tasked with addressing specific challenges faced by the industry—low production skills levels, employment equity, scarce and critical skills, black economic empowerment, and the quality of skills delivery—the Academy was registered as a separate company in March 2007. The Citrus Academy has Section 18(a) tax exemption and has 100% beneficiary recognition for the purposes of B-BBEE.
Get to know us
Meet the team
Jacomien is responsible for the overall management of the Citrus Academy.
Jacomien de Klerk
General manager
Candice manages all aspects of the Bursary Fund, including applications, pay-outs, funding, and vocational learning programmes.
Candice Burgin
Bursary Fund manager
Sam manages the implementation of the skills development component of the CGA’s Economic Transformation of Black Citrus Growers Programme (ETBCG).
Sam Louw
Skills development facilitator
Desiree is responsible for e-learning programme development and implementation.
Desiree Schonken
Project and programme coordinator
Sive implements short courses, Orange Heart, Packalympics and other ad hoc projects.
Sive Silo
Project coordinator
Nonhle assists senior staff members with their tasks and is the e-learning programmes assessor.
Nonhle Mbhele
Project coordinator assistant
Londiwe assists the Skills development facilitator with all administrative duties pertaining to the ETBCG project.
Londiwe Ngcobo
Skills development administrator
Angela manages the Citrus Resource Warehouse, Pick me!, social media and the website, along with the CRM and other internal databases.
Angela Phillips
Data manager
Keshena is responsible for the management of the accounts.
Keshena Maharaj
Accountant
Bets oversees the office administration for both the Citrus Growers’ Association and the Citrus Academy.