Michelin SA donated R60 000 to Chloorkop’s People Matter Foundation under its Care in Action programme on May 16.
“Michelin came to SA in the 1940s, and one of our pillars is respect for people. We focus on profit, planet and people in no particular order.
“Our focus now is people, and we want to promote a better way forward for our people,” said Michelin SA business partner and sales administrator Tino Malinga.
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Michelin donated R60 000 toward reusable sanitary pads manufacturing. The pads will be donated to girls who cannot afford them.
“We want to change people’s mindsets regarding reusable pads because 45b pads worldwide end up in landfills, so we need to use a more sustainable solution,” said Michelin business support expert Prebashni Govender.
Govender said Michelin cannot exist in isolation and must contribute to the bigger scheme of things.
“We all need to work together to make this world better, and that’s what Michelin believes in,” she said.
“The average girl child in developing countries misses 31 days of school every year because they do not have access to sanitary towels, and we live in a world where they are expected to compete with the boy child for CEO positions,’ said pastor Percy Mongwai from the People Matter Foundation.
He added that the foundation had to look at how to help girls, and it had to be in a way that is sustainable to the environment and their pockets.
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“We planned to distribute four pads to each child. We want to give the girl child a year of school life back,” he said.
Last November, Michelin SA donated R60 000 to the foundation for baking machinery. They donated another R60 000 to the same organisation for more machinery in their bakery.
Before the donation, the bakery produced 120 loaves of bread daily, but with the additional machinery, it now makes 220 loaves daily.
The foundation bought the machinery and hired more people with the donation.
“The previous donations created jobs and developed skills,” said Malinga.
