The Hope Factory Helps Women Design Own Success
The Eastern Cape has earned a justifiable reputation for having generated a great many stories of hope.
It would not be an exaggeration to observe that a growing number of these are thanks to an increasing number of women who are actively participating in The Hope Factory project.
Zandile Gqosha, 23, a Hope Factory trainee from Umtata, is one of them, having determined that nothing will stand in her way of becoming a business leader and fashion guru.
The Hope Factory, a Thuthuka Job and Wealth Creation Project, is one of the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants' (SAICA) key corporate social investment flagship projects; one that provides young people with skills to become entrepreneurs, fashion designers and corporate gift crafters.
Through technical, business and life skills training, previously disadvantaged individuals are given a new sense of hope for the future, along with the confidence to dream big and become financially productive.
“When I heard that The Hope Factory was offering a training course, all I could think of was earning some money to survive,” says Gqosha, who was desperately looking for a job at the time.
“I got more than I had bargained for in the form of skills that will help me start a business as a fashion designer in the near future.”
To date, The Hope Factory has trained and empowered more than 300 unemployed people in technical skills such as sewing, pattern making, beading and dressmaking. The project employs 80 people in its job creation programme, which involves creating and producing a wide range of corporate gifts and conference material.
Chantyl Mulder, SAICA's Senior Executive: Transformation, says serving society is a critical part of the chartered accountancy profession.
“As a profession, our members and firms are involved in a wide variety of community development projects. We want to contribute to the rebuilding of our nation through the education and the empowerment of every individual.”
Gqosha is surely empowered. She says The Hope Factory has awakened in her a spirit of creativity and the belief that she can achieve anything.
Mulder says everyone can make a difference.
“Make a difference,” she urges. “Visit The Hope Factory's website and help through sponsoring a trainee, purchasing corporate gifts and/or donating items or much needed finance.
“Taking a moment to view the website; you could be the catalyst that sparks a lifeline of hope for disadvantaged young people seeking opportunities to fight unemployment.”
The Hope Factory, founded in 2001, is supported by the Department of Labour (Eastern Cape) and the chartered accountancy profession, through SAICA.
It is instrumental in providing opportunities for the unemployed to become financially productive and to gain practical work experience.
Zandile Gqosha, a shining role model, will be one of many who will graduate from The Hope Factory in Port Elizabeth on 27 October 2006.
