PPC Ltd.'s Women's Forum - a change agent for the retention and advancing of female talent

31 Jul 2013

PPC Ltd., through its women's forum, continues to attract, embrace and advance women's talent to effectively lead the company, and encourages creativity and innovation. The subject of women and providing equal opportunity in the workplace remains a key priority for its board members and executive committee. As a result, in

2011 the cement company launched the PPC Women's Forum (PPCWF) to facilitate dialogue among women and create support networks from skilled and experienced men and women, providing influential leadership towards diversity in the company.
The PPCWF will be hosting its second annual conference, themed: Discover your Passion, Tap into your Potential, Find your Purpose and Live your Dreams." Coinciding with Women's Day, the conference will take place on 8 August 2013, at the Hilton Hotel in Sandton. Delegates will be inspired by speakers such as Chairwomen Monhla Hlahla from the Industrial Development Corporation, Salukazi Dakile-Hlongwane from Nozala Investment and Futhi Mtoba from Deloittes Africa, amongst others.
The PPCWF is championed by the company's Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Tryphosa Ramano, who broke barriers when she was appointed as the first female CFO at the company in 119 years. "We are on a long, important journey: PPC currently employs about 460 women - that's about 20.9% of the total number of employees, and up from 18.6% in 2011. At the same
time we acknowledge the vast amount of work still to be done in order to achieve equity and gender sustainability in the workplace. I have no doubt that the PPC Women's Forum will play a leading
role in achieving this," Ramano said.
The PPCWF has the following objectives as part of its vision 2016 strategy:

· Achieve a 30% women representation across all levels at PPC

· Pilot a child care facility at its head office in Sandton

· Roll out the PPC Women's Forum to sites

· Develop a pipeline of leadership by mentoring, coaching and developmental programmes for women in management

PPC employees are pushing the boundaries to excel - two women are on the Strategic Leadership Programme run by the International Women's Forum South Africa and two delegates are part of the Manufacturing Circle's Executive Development Programme. In 2012, PPC was the only company that sent female representation to the Manufacturing Circle's programme. Other
programmes that have a PPC presence are the Fordham University Summer Programme in New York, Leading Women in Africa and PPC employees attended the Brazil Women's Forum.
The path for female employees at PPC has expanded. Over the last decade, the company has seen a 67% increase in its female staff ratio and a four-fold increase of women in management roles. Since the launch of the forum, women representation has increased from 18 to over 20%. To date, PPC employs more than
460 female employees and aims to achieve a 30% female demographic by 2016.
According to Ketso Gordhan, CEO at PPC, "The PPC Women's Forum has achieved a great deal since its inception and we encourage more women to become involved. The cement industry has historically been a male dominated industry and women in mining are relatively new. At PPC, the empowerment of women is not a hidden subject and we understand that we have to promote the role that women play in the work place, not only as an equity issue".
Follow PPC on Twitter @PPCisCement, like us on www.facebook.com/PPC.Cementand visit us at www.ppc.co.za. Join in the conversation on the conference and forum by tweeting with #PPCWomen.

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