Women’s month: Recruitment project tackles gender bias
The programme has ‘already produced 66 active representatives’.
ADRESSING INEQUALITY. Virginia Nkosi of Assupol Life. Picture: Supplied
To mark Women’s Month, insurance company Assupol and women-owned company Omama Besizwe Investments have teamed up to offer training and job opportunities to young female graduates in the financial sector, to redress gender inequality.
Assupol Life’s Virginia Nkosi said women with qualifications in commerce, finance, accounting, business management, administration, marketing, auditing, economics, financial information systems, law and related qualifications would be eligible to apply.
Quoting last year’s Stats SA figures, Nkosi said there were an estimated 37.9% households headed by women, “with most industries not yet fully transformed and many young female graduates struggling to find jobs or exposure to real work experience”. The youth aged 15–24 years are the most vulnerable in SA. Among graduates in this age group, the unemployment rate was 31%.
She said: “South Africa’s high unemployment rate for graduates is one of the social challenges that Assupol and Omama Besizwe Investments is currently tackling through its graduate recruitment programme. The programme started with the intention of creating opportunities for women’s inclusion in financial institutions…
“The most practical way we could achieve this was through equipping graduates with necessary training and support. We meet with interested candidates to introduce the programme and to explain the envisaged two-year journey towards becoming financial advisors.
“We support interested candidates with extensive theory, practical training and workshops in preparation for their regulatory examinations. Candidates receive a stipend to help them find their feet in the early stages of the programme and they later have the opportunity to earn direct commission from sales.”
She said the project has “already produced 66 active representatives”.
Interested candidates should e-mail amanda@omamabesizwe. co.za or call 072-936-0723.
– brians@citizen.co.za
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