Nedbank provides skills training for women

This week, fifteen ladies from Langa Township in Cape Town took their very first big step towards a financially secure future when they graduated from the 2016 Sinakho Women and Youth Development Programme.

The graduation ceremony marked the pinnacle of a three-month skills transfer initiative that saw these ladies receiving training and mentoring on all aspects of garment manufacturing, sales and distribution from the skilled staff at the leading SA fashion creation business, House of Monatic.

To help them put these skills to use, Nedbank provided funding for the 2016 project and also donated materials for use by the participants to use during their training.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony, Lindiwe Temba, Executive Head of Corporate Social Investment at Nedbank, explained that the bank’s support of the skills transfer programme formed part of its ongoing commitment to care for South African communities and offered tangible evidence of the transformative power that is unlocked when like-minded organisations collaborate to bring about social upliftment.

Temba explained that these raised levels of confidence and self worth are essential outcomes to which the bank aspires with all its corporate social investment efforts. ‘As money experts who do good, we have never been in the business of handouts,’ she said, ‘we focus 100% on supporting organisations and initiatives that empower South Africans to lift themselves out of their current hardships and establish themselves as self-sufficient contributors to the South African economy.’

At the graduation, it was also announced that the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has also become a partner in the skills transfer programme and has donated R500 000 towards a sewing kit for each graduate, which includes a sewing machine and other garment production tools to help the graduates establish their own small businesses.

Nedbank will continue its involvement with the 2016 programme and its support of the graduates, by selling some of the garments they produce through its corporate sales channel, Nedthreads.