The outcome of the ANCs long-awaited KwaZulu-Natal conference was a win for the Thuma Mina crowd. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
The Phakama Women’s Academy is a CSI (corporate social investment) initiative of the VWV Group, a global brand experiential agency that integrates physical and digital elements to create experiences that change perceptions and inspire action.
The academy was born out of a desire by its chief executive, Koo Govender, to ensure that previously disadvantaged second- and third-year female marketing students entering the corporate world were properly equipped to do so.
“The Phakama Women’s Academy is a bold, ground-breaking initiative that is focused, structured and sets out to achieve excellent results,” says Govender. “In addition to building confidence and equipping young female graduates for the corporate world, it’s a forum that gives many South African businesswomen a chance to share their passions, insights and experiences with others.”
Despite impressive qualifications, many female graduates enter the workplace with little knowledge or experience of everyday business. The Phakama Women’s Academy empowers and equips promising young women with the skills and confidence to thrive in the corporate world. ‘Phakama” means “to rise” in the Zulu, Xhosa and Nguni languages.
“In a male-dominated industry, the Phakama Women’s Academy fills an important gap,” she adds. “The mentors ensure that guidance and input is on-going beyond the formal course. The academy helps build women who are confident, hard-working, and who want to be successful in their own lives, their communities and [wish] to make an impact on this country.”
The organisation is funded by the VWV Group with the help of several VWV suppliers, who act as sponsors. There are also external funders like First Car Rental, which has sponsored transportation for the girls to travel from their campuses to the VWV offices and back.
Over four weeks, female facilitators from the business world lecture the young women on different modules. These include: finding a mentor, how to write a CV, “What is the Corporate World All About?” understanding corporate “language”, visualising your dreams, and how to dress for the business world.
The academy pairs each student with a female mentor, who endeavours to enhance the student’s confidence, skills and knowledge. The mentors are South African women who have “made it” in the corporate world and are passionate about women’s empowerment.
“Going forward, we hope to reach thousands of female graduates and to assist them in their transition from universities to the business world,” says Govender. “The Phakama Women’s Academy believes strongly in the philosophy of ‘paying it forward’. We encourage the girls to lift others in their journey as they rise, because as women we need to support each other.”
The VWV Group strives to maintain the standards and values of the academy. “We assess this by interviewing previous student and facilitators and mentors about their experiences and providing our team with this information,” says Govender. “We fine-tune future courses based on this information.”