The Hope Factory's fashion show and graduation
Fashions come and go, but the skills that trainees in the Thuthuka Hope Factory Wealth Creation project learn will not only serve them for a lifetime; they will forever change the face of South Africa's job creation efforts.
The Hope Factory, a South African Institute of Chartered Accountants' (SAICA) corporate social responsibility initiative, will be organising a Fashion Show in Port Elizabeth on 6 July 2005 to showcase clothing items designed by trainees from previously disadvantaged communities.
While the designs will raise onlookers' eyebrows, most trainees will be positioning themselves to start small businesses in the field. This, after all, is the event's ultimate aim.
The Hope Factory, founded in 2001, has been creating opportunities for people from disadvantaged backgrounds to be trained in business, technical and life skills. It has organised the fashion show to celebrate the graduation of their trainees and its investment in people of the Nelson Mandela Metropole.
The fashion show will showcase the first intake of trainees emerging from the Hope Factory's Eastern Cape branch in Port Elizabeth. The Hope Factory has played an important role in the Western Cape in establishing young men and women as independent and successful corporate gift producers and entrepreneurs.
Elizabeth Zambonini, SAICA's Corporate Social Investment Officer, said: “The Fashion Show, in line with The Hope Factory's objectives, will encourage people to invest in themselves and to take ownership of their future.”
She said The Hope Factory was about restoring self-respect and dignity and contributing to the rebuilding of our nation through education and the empowerment of every individual.
“While fashion shows are generally about the glitz and the glamour, the Hope Factory's Fashion Show is about people gaining the expertise to become employable and self-sustaining. It is about having a sense of pride in being able to put bread on the table.”
The Hope Factory has been instrumental in providing opportunities for the unemployed to become financially productive and to gain practical work experience. Thus far, 120 trainees have benefited from the Hope Factory's Eastern and Western Cape programmes, with an additional 114 expected to benefit by the end of 2005.
The Hope Factory is supported by the Department of Labour and the Accounting Profession, through SAICA's Thuthuka Project.
Fashion Show and Graduation
Date: 06 July 2005
Time: 13h00-14h30
Venue: 95 Parliament Street, Central, Port Elizabeth, Tel: (041) 585 4588
