Honouring the women of AfroCentric
In August, AfroCentric celebrated South Africa’s Women’s Month in style, honouring the immense contribution of our company’s women.
Women’s Month is about coming together as women and having conversations that not only celebrate us, but also enlighten and empower us, making us even stronger. This was reflected in our theme for this year’s Women’s Month – “Embrace Equity: Lift as You Rise”.
The month-long celebration focused on promoting inclusivity and fairness for everyone within AfroCentric, while encouraging employees, regardless of seniority, to offer a helping hand to those in need.
Our special initiatives included two women’s dialogue sessions, themed “Embrace Equity: Lift as You Rise” and “Women and Health”. We hosted talks on women’s reproductive and sexual health, the importance of health screening, and mental health.
Lift as you rise
AfroCentric employees joined a meaningful, engaging conversation during our recent On the Couch session, themed “Embrace Diversity: Lift as You Rise”.
The event was facilitated by Dr Abongile Qamata, the Lead for Alternatives to Hospitalisation at Medscheme. In this role, she explores innovative and disruptive ways to deliver sustainable, evidence-based and outcomes-focused healthcare services.
Joining Dr Abongile were panellists Dr Anna, who contributed a special pre-recorded message, Gerald van Wyk, Marion Borcherds, Gerda Strydom, Olebogeng Khubile and Kagiso Bulunga.
Dr Abongile, from Johannesburg, is an ultramarathoner-turned-triathlete who is living her best life through swimming, cycling and enjoying nutritious plant-based meals. She was recognised in the 2021 Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans Healing Women category and was the runner-up for the 2023 Young Achiever Award at the Top Empowerment Conference.
Click here to revisit the conversation.
You can also catch up on the dialogue that was held by Sanlam here.
If you missed the Women’s health webinar, you can catch up here: https://afrocentrichealth-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/lucreciaj_medscheme_co_za/EQckIdt6eKJJlJsmiR9OsOQBw0xqf99T-3UWw8nDLutUfg
Mommy Room launch
The AfroCentric Group promotes and supports breastfeeding and the expression of breastmilk by employees who are breastfeeding.
This is why one of the highlights of our Women’s Month celebrations was the launch of the AfroCentric Mommy Rooms, which support the needs of breastfeeding mothers when they return to work.The rooms feature a comfortable chair, a side table, a mini refrigerator for temporary storage of breast milk and an electrical outlet.
The Women’s Think Tank and employees were present as Bongi Ncube, General Manager: Group Financial Reporting, cut the ribbon at the grand opening, where new, experienced and prospective mommies gathered to celebrate.
Additional ways AfroCentric is empowering women:
- 72% of employees are women
- 43% of leadership (from the position of General Manager and upwards) are women
- 64% female new hires in the past financial year
- Four out of nine non-executive directors are women
- AfroCentric’s new Parental Policy was approved
- Mommy Rooms are now available countrywide for breastfeeding mothers
- We hosted a successful Women & Health webinar about mental, physical and emotional health
- Digital posters and videos were released profiling women in the AfroCentric Group
- We hosted an On the Couch dialogue session themed “Lift as You Rise”, focusing on mentorship, networking, partnerships and critical conversations.
Showing our appreciation
We wrapped up our Women’s Month celebrations with a small token of appreciation for the women in the Group.
Mail & Guardian Power of Women Awards 2023
The AfroCentric Group was honoured to once again be one of the sponsors of the Mail & Guardian’s Power of Women Awards 2023.
Women’s empowerment is a critical aspect of achieving and accelerating gender equity, yet statistics prove that women are more likely to be passed over for a promotion compared to men. Women are also twice as likely to be mistaken for someone more junior.
It is why the Mail & Guardian has for many years highlighted the Power of Women and the stories of ordinary women, who are doing extraordinary things in sometimes the most discouraging environments – a cause that deeply resonates with our ethos as a company.
Read more about our sponsorship of the awards here.
