Langa women develop skills with Sinakho programme
OWN SMALL BUSINESSES: NOT ONLY TRAINEES WHO BENEFIT, BUT ALSO THE SA ECONOMY Fifteen on the way to independence after learning new abilities from the industry leaders in garment manufacturing.
Promoting a culture of independence and community skills developing, fifteen women from Langa Township in Cape Town took their first big step towards a financially secure future when they graduated from the 2016 Sinakho Women and Youth Development Programme on March 16, 2017.
Since its conception, the daughters, wives and mothers of Langa have become prosperous through skill development. After 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, a graduation ceremony couldn’t have been a better send-off. What better way to celebrate the improvement but to showcase the work of the graduates in a fashion show format, held at the community hall. 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.
According to Sinakho Leadership Support and Skills Development Centre founder, Ms Zella Pahlana, the true value of the Women and Youth Skills Development programme comes from the fact that it is not only the participants who benefit. “In our experience, these training recipients typically go on to establish their own small businesses,” she points out, “thereby not only becoming contributors to the country’s economy, but also job creators who help to uplift many people and families in their own communities.”