BWA nurturing future women leaders

Almost 80 Grade 11 and 12 girl pupils will learn about their dream careers from Port Elizabeth‘s women leaders in business at the annual Businesswomen of Tomorrow event, held by the PE branch of the Businesswomen’s Association (BWA) next week, Tuesday 19 August 2014.

The event is held during Women’s Month specifically to inspire and empower future women leaders in business, government and civil society. A high school is chosen in the Metro each year and this year the Grade 11 learners from Cillié High School have been invited to name their chosen careers. They will now have the opportunity to shadow a woman in that field for the day.

For the second year, a group of 10 Grade 12 learners from the Future Leaders Programme at the Ubuntu Centre in Zwide will also participate in the event. These young women are part of a group of male and female learners from different township schools who have been identified for their academic potential and invited to participate in a programme of academic tutoring, life skills development and work experience in order to prepare them to succeed at university.

The co-ordinator of the Future Leaders Programme, Thina Maqubela, completed her university studies at UCT and the University of West Virginia in the USA with bursaries from the Ubuntu Education Fund. She set up the programme at the Zwide centre because “I wanted to give something back, to share my experience as a first-generation student and to give other learners the opportunities for support and university preparation that I didn’t have.” In June Thina was the winner of the Social Entrepreneur Category in the BWA’s Regional Business Achievers Awards.

Twelve learners from the Vision 4 Academy, an initiative run by well-known PE businesswoman, Nosi Ncoyo, will be joining the initiative for the first time.

The learners’ career choices range from teaching, social work and public service, to medicine, law, science and art.

BWA members are asked to volunteer to host two or more girls for the duration of a school day. The learners then accompany the women to all their meetings and assignments for the day, getting first-hand experience of the job and learning from their hosts about the challenges on the way to success.

Businesswomen of Tomorrow is an annual event which has been run by the BWA in Port Elizabeth for several years. It always received positive feedback from the learners, Life Orientation teachers and the hosting businesswomen.

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