The Imbumba Foundation, through its flagship Caring4Girls Programme, started 15 years ago, raises crucial awareness and mobilises resources to provide practical solutions to keep girls in school during their menstrual cycles. Through this programme, the Foundation continues to empower vulnerable youth and create sustainable change for girl children across Southern Africa. The joint project has adopted Grade 8 learners in selected Quintile 1–3 schools nationwide, committing to support beneficiaries with sanitary pads and menstrual hygiene education for their entire high school career, to ensure uninterrupted access to education up to grade 12.
Imbumba Foundation Chief Executive, Richard Mabaso states: “According to recent research, one in four girl learners in South Africa still misses school each month due to a lack of access to menstrual hygiene products and adequate support during their menstrual periods. This translates to up to 50 days of lost schooling each year, which has a profound impact on a girl’s educational outcomes and future opportunities.”
The Spur Corporation Sidima Sisters partnership will launch the first of two newly adopted beneficiary schools this year, to be added to the six existing schools within the partnership. Thlako Secondary School, Groblersdal, Limpopo, will be the first school activation this year, benefitting 138 new beneficiaries, followed by Ebenezer Majombozi High School, East London, Eastern Cape with 262 girls. This will strengthen and expand the partnership’s footprint to 8 schools in 8 provinces. Beneficiaries will receive a 12-months’ supply of sanitary pads, puberty education booklets, and access to critical menstrual hygiene education, equipping girls with knowledge and confidence alongside practical support.
Spur Corporation CEO, Val Nichas says, “These young girls are leaders of our future families, companies, and country. The care and consideration they are given today in their youth will set the foundation on how they treat others going forward. We need to ensure that all women, especially young girls at this tender age, are treated with care, respect, and dignity. We believe in women of the future”.
About Spur Corporation
Spur Corporation is a leading casual dining restaurant franchise group of more than 700 outlets across South Africa, the rest of Africa, Mauritius, and the Middle East. The group first listed on the travel and leisure sector of the JSE in 1986. Spur Corporation is the proud home of 10 world-class restaurant brands, and still a cherished South African business icon. The group owns seven well-established and diverse brands, including some of South Africa’s iconic family restaurant brands, such as Spur Steak Ranches, Panarottis Pizza & Pasta, John Dory’s Fish, Grill and Sushi and RocoMamas.
About Imbumba Foundation
The Imbumba Foundation is a non-profit organisation founded by innovative social entrepreneur, Richard Mabaso in 2010. The Foundation positions itself as an innovative, non-profit, social enterprise that understands contemporary challenges facing today’s society. The overall strategic intent of the Foundation is to be on the leading edge of pioneering social innovations that help the public sector, private sector, and communities to work together to achieve effective and sustainable public-private-partnerships (PPP).
About Caring4Girls
The Imbumba Foundation’s Caring4Girls Programme was a direct response to the harsh reality by Imbumba Foundation CE, Richard Mabaso, that millions of girls in South Africa, even within his own family, miss a significant number of school days or even drop out completely, due to lack of access to adequate sanitary protection and corresponding reproductive health education. The programme aims to give a voice to these young women, instilling dignity and fostering confidence.
