The company’s  vision is to unlock the full potential of women.

Women have a key role to make KCM competitive and profitable.

CHINGOLA, 7 March 2017, Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) has announced plans for an affirmative action aimed to increase the number of women in the organization as well as in key leadership roles.

The initiative was announced as KCM took part in the commemoration of the International Women’s Day celebrations on March 8, under the global theme: ‘Be Bold for Change.”

Konkola Copper Mines will increase the number of females in leadership roles through talent identification and mentorship in a systematic manner, says Chimango Chikwanda, the company’s Vice President for Human Capital Management.

The affirmative action will ensure the number of women within Konkola Copper Mines increases from the current 11 percent to 14 percent in the medium term before eventually increasing the representation to over 30 percent within the next three years.

“Our vision is to unlock the full potential of women,” Mrs Chikwanda says. “Our parent company Vedanta Resources plc has stepped up in the journey to ensure we have reasonable representation of women within the group and KCM is fully focused to achieve this goal.”

She says KCM has implemented Talent Workshops initiated by Vedanta Resources in order to ‘bubble-up’ young talent across the group.

“Through this process, we have recently identified five high potential female employees who have been recommended for promotions and enhanced roles in the company,” adds Mrs Chikwanda.

Ms Chikwanda encouraged women to pursue excellence, be visible and have a clear purpose in their careers and life in general.

She comments that, “Successful companies look for the best talent because they have to remain competitive and profitable. I encourage women to be bold, have the right attitude, to be visible, speak up, to volunteer for work and to network both internally and externally.”

KCM women will take part in national events to commemorate the International Women’s Day, including a career talk by female Engineers and other professionals for girls at the KCM Trust Schools in Chingola and Chililabomwe. KCM Women will also be donating an assortment of goods, including blankets to a charity for the aged and disabled in Chingola.