Celebrating International Day Of The Girl Child

On 11 October 2022, in recognition of International Day of the Girl Child, Maitland hosted students from LEAP Science & Maths Schools at our office in Cape Town. The 2022 theme for this important globally-recognised day was “Our Time is now – our Rights, our Future”. The United Nations Development Program shared a video on social media which was captioned: “All girls have the right to a safe, educated and healthy life.”

Yonela Dlikilili, Zodwa Mqonqo, Nxolo Rose Ntonjane, and Chante Johnson are bright Grade 12 learners with an aptitude for maths and science, who Maitland has sponsored and mentored throughout their high school journey. We share in LEAP’s passion for the youth of South Africa and recognise the obstacles many young women in the country face in their academic careers and beyond.

The day spent in our offices on 11 October included an introduction to fund administration by Andre Le Roux, Head of Business Development and Client Management – Africa, job shadowing in various areas of our business (including robotics, information security, compliance, marketing and finance) and a skills development workshop focusing on business communication. This program gave the girls an opportunity to see a ‘real’ office in action – something many don’t experience until after completing their tertiary studies. This kind of exposure, along with the relationships developed with their Maitland mentors and other connections within the business, will hopefully encourage the girls to aim high and reach for successes that they might never have believed to be possible.

Grade 12 learner, Chante Johnson, remarked, “I just want to say thank you for today. I really enjoyed it a lot. Today I was more excited than the other days and I felt more comfortable with the others because I think I’m getting used to coming there. I’ve learned a lot today and I will definitely apply these things I’ve learned in my daily life. Your company always makes us feel welcome and makes us feel like we belong there.”

Equally, mentoring our learners at events like International Day of the Girl Child provide our junior mentors with the opportunity to improve their soft skills and test leadership principles. Lindy Gedula, a junior mentor based in the Maitland marketing team says, “By guiding and motivating my mentee to do her best in school, I believe I am increasing my emotional intelligence and becoming a more effective communicator. Being in a mentoring relationship requires patience and, for someone who’s a bit impatient, mentoring is teaching me resilience.”

Maitland has proudly sponsored students from LEAP Science and Maths Schools since 2018. Through this collaboration, we are able to share the benefits of our financial and managerial expertise and contribute to giving young people the skills they need to become future leaders.

If you would like to support LEAP, please visit www.leapschool.org.za.

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