ESG Initiatives
Phakama Women's Academy
In 2014 VWV established the Phakama Women's Academy, a non-profit ESG initiative to help young female jobseekers in the communications and marketing fields enter the world of work with the knowledge and confidence that might take them to the boardroom one day.
Every year, through skills development workshops and individual mentoring, we give 30 - 40 bright, ambitious female final-year students from Vega, AFDA, and UJ a remarkable opportunity to not only ignite their careers but shape their destinies.
Every girl graduates with a Phakama Women’s Academy certificate at the end of the course, and we are proud to partner with a group of trailblazing women from the corporate world to mentor the girls, a relationship that often endures well beyond the course itself.
African Angels
More recently, VWV ‘adopted’ a remarkable school in the Eastern Cape called African Angels, sponsoring the education and associated costs of eight young girls. In the absence of any affordable, quality education being provided by the state, the school is a beacon of hope for the 153 children who are from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds, providing well-equipped classrooms, qualified and experienced teachers, a properly applied curriculum, as well as porridge for breakfast and a hot lunch for each child every day.
The Hamlet
For thirty-five years, we at VWV have recognized the need for businesses to help those less fortunate. It began in a bar in Braamfontein in 1989, when chairman Mark Steinhobel heard from a friend, Don Hill, about his daughter Callie who was born with an intellectual disability. Callie was in a home called The Hamlet, which was in desperate need of funding.
VWV decided to support causes related to needy children and young people, and by the time they left the bar, the group had spawned an annual fund-raising golf tournament that continued to raise money for The Hamlet for many years. Since then, VWV has taken on production of The Hamlet’s annual fund-raising banquet every year.
