Tafta celebrates CEO’s noteworthy nomination

THE Association for The Aged (Tafta) ended Women’s Month with a momentous close as they celebrated their CEO, Femada Shamam’s short-listing in the 2021 Standard Bank KZN Top Business Women Initiative.

The initiative recognises some of the industrious and enterprising women entrepreneurs, employees and social change agents in KZN. It comprises a three-month build-up to the main event, sharing the stories and showcasing the achievements of ten participating women in the province through webinars, print and social media.

Shamam who has been instrumental in changing the lives of many elderly people over the last two decades was profiled as one of the participating women in this initiative.

She began her career at Tafta in 1999 as a young newly qualified social worker and service centre organiser at John Dunn House in Wentworth. She had previously worked at Tongaat and Districts Child Welfare. She quickly propelled to the helm of Tafta’s social agency and a team of social workers in 2003 when she was promoted to Head of Tafta’s Social Agency Department. She then continued with her studies, attaining a first-class pass for Business Management and completing her bachelor of commerce degree. Since then, she has assumed various management roles within the organisation until she was assigned as a chief operations officer in 2016. Soon after, Shamam was appointed as Tafta’s CEO in April 2017.

Compassion and commitment to providing uncompromised care have seen her dedicate 22 years to serving the elderly through her position at the NPO and by serving on several local, provincial, national and international forums dedicated to lobbying for the rights of the elderly. “My guiding belief has always been that a better life for the elderly is possible. The transition from working directly with the elders to managing the staff and the programme presented an opportunity to effect change in a different way. My inspiration is drawn by the successes of the staff whom I lead. Their joys, achievements and successes spur me on to be and do better,” she said.

Shamam and nine other phenomenal women participating in the Standard Bank KZN Top Business Women initiative, will share their stories and offer the insights gleaned from their individual experiences and journeys, through an interactive online webinar series which went live on Thursday, September 2.

For more information, visit the KZN Top Business Women Facebook page or call Tafta’s Prevashni Naidu on 031 332 3721.