<1>Investing in women

Many women are now the main breadwinners in their families and form the support structures of their communities. For these and many other reasons, we know that investing in women will have major long term positive effects on our economy, communities, family structures and values.

“Women, and especially young women, need to be shown that there are possibilities and taught that through hard work they too can succeed. The various initiatives assisting women, supported by African Bank, aim to do just that,” says African Bank’s Group Executive: Sales, Branch Network, Mellony Ramalho.

• Mentorship Programme

Our Grade 11 mentorship programme focuses on young female students identified as top achievers in three schools we have selected as part of this programme: Umqhele Comprehensive in Ivory Park, and Ingqayizivele Secondary and Thuko Ke Maatla Secondary in Tembisa.

The programme is about ‘life after Grade 12’ and aims to equip these learners with various skills to help them prepare for the challenges ahead. This includes assistance in choosing a higher education institution, entrance requirements, fees, bursaries, etc. as well as soft skills like managing your finances, public speaking, etc.

• Sanitary products

We host and support several events throughout the year where we visit schools and invite speakers to offer mentoring and career guidance as well as information on personal hygiene.

“We believe every girl in South Africa deserves access to safe and hygienic sanitary products. If we can help make a small difference and make a positive impact on these young lives by providing sanitary pads, we can help reduce the high number of school absenteeism and drop-outs which still exist in many schools around the country,” says Romalho.

• Let’s Play Netball

Sport is also a great way to reach girls and women and nurture talent, and we’re doing this through the African Bank Let’s Play Netball programme for high school girls in the townships of Uitenhage.

• Early Childhood Development (ECD)

For the past five years, we have been working with Early Inspiration (http://www.earlyinspiration.co.za/), an organisation dedicated to trainsing qualified ECD practitioners. We have sponsored the the training of 48 women in the Eastern and Western Cape, who were formerly unqualified creche teachers.

Any investment in women is multiplied by the impact they have on their families and their communities. African Bank is a proud supporter of South African women!