The Michele Ferrero Entrepreneurial Project, a project of Ferrero South Africa, today opened the doors to its primary health care facility in Walkerville, south of Johannesburg.

The facility offers medical assistance free of charge to about 400 Ferrero plant staff, their children, and family members in an area that has fewer facilities of that nature and hopes to extend the service community members in the future.

The Michele Ferrero Entrepreneurial Project, established by one of the the world’s biggest confectionary companies, is active locally, in Cameroon and India and its primary mission is to create employment and implement humanitarian and social projects.

Social Activist Andile Gaelisiwe with Ferrero SA staff members. Picture: Ferrero South Africa.

The South African plant has been operational since 2006 and in 2009 the construction of a processing plant in Walkerville saw scores of locals not only looking for jobs, but also complaining about lack of health services.

The facility, on the grounds of the Ferrero Production Plant, was officially opened by the Italian Ambassador to South Africa Pietro Giovanni Donnici, Gauteng Health Chief Information Officer Solly Cave, Ferrero South African General Manager Giacomo Ferrero with Solly Hatang, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, as a guest of honour.

“Thanks to the new Primary Health Care Centre at the Walkerville plant, we will be able to strengthen and better the mandatory occupational health care services which were previously provided to our workers at a small infirmary within our plant.

“At the same time, and more importantly, we will be dispensing primary health care services that will be accessible not only to our workers, but also to their children and family members. This way, the scope of this project extends beyond the perimeter of our plant and seeks to benefit, more broadly, the local community at large,” said Emiliano Camerlengo, director of the Walkerville plant.

Left to Right – Italian ambassador to SA Pietro Giovanni Donnici, Dr Balin Moodley, Midvaal Mayor Bongani Baloyi and Nelson Mandela Foundation CEO Sello Hatang. Picture: Ferrero SA.

Previously, the project contributed in improving educational facilities within the Walkerville community by fully renovating the local Japie Greyling School, a primary school recently renamed Randvaal Primary School.

This project, implemented in close collaboration with the Ministry of Basic Education, was part of its ‘94+ School Projects for Madiba’ programme whose aim was to mobilise resources from private donors to support over 94 schools in the country, in honor of Nelson Mandela’s 94th birthday.

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