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Voices of Change

Voices of Change is a movement that seeks to encourage both men and women to be at the forefront of gender equality.

What is Voices of Change

Voices of Change (VOC) is a movement that seeks to encourage both men and women to be at the forefront of gender equality and play a leading role in making equality the norm in the workplace. It also aims to demonstrate how global organisations can come together to work towards common goals irrespective of their business purpose.

The VOC movement maximises what drives human potential for women and helps the entire workforce thrive. Our goal is to build awareness of equality in the workplace and drive focused, meaningful change. We believe the only way to transform workplaces and society in general outdated systems is by men and women joining forces to support gender equality. It is the powerful truth and inspiration behind Voices of Change – She, He, We, is Power – the essence of which captures a profound message. We are no doubt stronger when we stand together in unity, and that collective effort is required to harness the true power of diversity.

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Our goal is to build awareness of equality in the workplace and drive focused, meaningful change.

What does success look like

It's not just about women's empowerment. It's got to do with people and how we drive more people to work together – men, women and the LGBTQ+ community – all are part of the movement because they each are part of the business community. Because it makes business sense, everybody must come to the table.

VOC believes that it is Better to Belong. Belonging means having influence over decisions, being respected by peers and managers, being comfortable speaking up and having a senior leader who can help you to advance and grow.

What Voices of Change aims to achieve

We believe the future workforce is an equal one. We expect leaders to help create and sustain a culture of equality. Inclusion helps us unleash more significant innovation and enables our people to perform at their best. It's time to empower women.

Maximise the human potential of all employees, especially women, leaders should focus on getting the day-to-day experiences right, particularly the essential levers.

Empower women to make work decisions that favour their unique situations and provide skilling and advancement opportunities that support women's career goals.

Be intentional about matching employees, particularly women, with leaders that can actively help them grow.

Utilise tech-enabled platforms to build community and inclusive environments that protect.

Psychological safety and boost trust and empathy.

Future prospects

VOC will celebrate this year's milestones by hosting a virtual event that aims to celebrate and promote equality in the workplace and the value of gender equality. The event will take place on Friday, 12th of August 2022.

In addition, the VOC movement has hosted a range of virtual Coffee Sessions to provide the opportunity for quality conversation on gender and workplace equality in the run-up to the main event in August. These sessions attract female and male participants from diverse networks that include business leaders.

The monthly VOC coffee sessions introduce participants to leaders, who discuss their journey to success and making a difference through inclusion and diversity. VOC is an initiative that shares knowledge and develops individuals by interacting with leaders who can help us understand that failing fast is perfectly normal, and what's important is the recovery from that.

Increasing representation

Accenture set new goals to increase the representation of gender, race, and ethnicity in Accenture South Africa by 2025. These include:

50%

increasing representation of women managing directors from 28% to 50%

68%

increasing Black employees from 45% to 68%

10%

increasing representation of Coloured employees from 6% to 10%

2%

increasing the representation of people with disabilities from 0.8% to 2%

70%

increasing the representation of African, Black, Coloured and Indian managing directors from 39% to 70%

Partnerships with Accenture

At the One Young Summit in 2017, Accenture and Thomson Reuters identified an opportunity to leverage their networks and experience to create a lasting and impactful change. This is where the idea for VOC was born. Today, several organisations such as Accenture, Nedbank, Business Engage, AECI, AngloGold Ashanti, Astron Energy, EOH, Kearny, Life Healthcare, Pfizer, Aspen Pharmacare, SAP, Hollard and Refinitiv are part of this active and growing movement.

VOC is an opportunity to learn and share. It is about building consistent change through collaboration. Most don't know what to do or where to start with gender mainstreaming or inclusion and diversity. They can learn from organisations that have been down this road about what has worked and what hasn't. It also gives them the power to stand up and say, if that company has done it, then so can we!

Impact in South Africa

To ensure grassroots behavioural change, VOC has partnered with SOAR! – an initiative that provides career guidance for high school learners on potential workplace challenges from a young age. It's about changing the narrative and getting it right from the start.

SOAR! Is a printed book that gives them valuable information they can use to make decisions about their futures. It offers several practical tools. Currently, only the girls' book is available – the boys' book is in production – and gives insight into 50 exciting careers from the perspective of the young women who are pursuing them.

According to SOAR!, how we raise the future generation of women and men is really important. The way we talk and relate to girls and boys in their formative years shapes their view of themselves as they grow up and, consequently, how they show up in the world and ultimately in the workplace.

About the founding partners

Business Engage Association NPC is a non-profit company established in 2005. It is an exciting and inventive organisation at the forefront of strategic thinking on gender mainstreaming in the private sector. It is a collaboration of corporates working together to create the business case for gender diversity. Business Engage is the custodian of the 30% Club Southern and East Africa. 30% Club is an international group of Chairmen, CEOs, senior executives and senior partners of the private sector and state-owned organisations that are publicly committed to achieving and sustaining at least 30% women on boards within a designated period. They believe it is suitable for the overall effectiveness of the boardroom – and, therefore, ideal for business. Focus is also placed on pipeline development to create sustainable change. Visit us at www.businessengage.africa

Nedbank Group is one of South Africa's largest banking groups by assets and deposits, with Nedbank Limited being our principal banking subsidiary. The bank, which is also continuing to expand into Africa with a presence in 39 countries on the continent through our Ecobank alliance, provides a wide range of wholesale and retail banking services and a growing insurance, asset management and wealth management offering through four main business operations, namely Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking, Nedbank Business Banking, Nedbank Retail and Nedbank Wealth. Transformation is at the heart of our mission as a bank premised on using our financial expertise to do good. For more information visit www.nedbank.co.za

Meet our lead

Khethiwe Nkuna

Responsible Business Executive – Accenture in Africa
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