Electromechanical equipment manufacturer ACTOM has officially opened Siyakhona Differently, a new laundromat enterprise aimed at creating meaningful employment, skills development and economic opportunities for differently abled professionals.

Siyakhona Differently will operate a laundry service for ACTOM employees, providing a commercial service while creating employment and business experience for its differently abled directors.

The enterprise was officially opened at ACTOM’s Knights facility in Germiston, Gauteng, on August 20, with ACTOM Group executive director Sylvester Makamu describing the initiative as an important effort to move beyond traditional corporate social investment towards sustainable empowerment.

The initiative began with ACTOM seeking ways to identify and support people living with disabilities, who faced barriers to entering the formal employment sector.

After struggling to find suitable channels through which to reach potential beneficiaries, Makamu said a chance encounter with two women using crutches at the company’s John Thompson business unit in Isando, Gauteng, became a catalyst for the programme.

“Initially, this initiative was structured as part of our socioeconomic development programme. We sought to firstly address some basic mobility challenges faced by the participants. We provided wheelchairs and assistive devices designed to manage their various physical conditions,” he said.

ACTOM subsequently interviewed more than 30 people living with disabilities, selecting 20 candidates to participate in a year-long venture creation qualification programme covering entrepreneurship, business management, leadership, financial principles, customer service and enterprise development.

Following the programme and an assessment process, two women were selected to establish the business and rather than imposing a business model on them, ACTOM worked with the beneficiaries to identify an enterprise that could offer sustainable commercial potential.

A laundry business was ultimately selected, with ACTOM assisting with the registration of the company, renovating and converting an underused facility, procuring machinery and equipment suited to the directors’ physical requirements, and providing mentorship and further training.

Additionally, Makamu said, the name Siyakhona Differently reflected the philosophy underpinning the project.

“Siyakhona is an isiZulu word that means ‘we are able’. The directors of the business chose this name. They acknowledged that they face certain physical limitations; however, they refused to let those limitations define their future or determine their value,” Makamu highlighted.

Commending the importance of this initiative, ACTOM Group CEO Mervyn Naidoo said this was particularly important against the backdrop of South Africa’s unemployment crisis.

He further stated that people living with disabilities faced even greater barriers to economic participation.

“There is a massive crisis in the country with unemployment. Given the socioeconomic crisis and given the fact that our economy is stagnant, the people that face the biggest challenges are those that are differently abled because if abled people cannot get jobs, how will differently abled people get jobs,” Naidoo probed.

On transformation, Naidoo noted that ACTOM viewed empowerment as extending beyond compliance or conventional black economic empowerment towards a broader responsibility to create opportunities for all stakeholders.

The Siyakhona Differently initiative is intended to provide services to ACTOM employees while giving its directors meaningful work, business experience and an opportunity to build sustainable livelihoods.

The opening of the laundromat, therefore, marked not simply the launch of a laundry, but the culmination of a programme that ACTOM says is designed to restore dignity, promote independence and demonstrate the economic contribution that differently abled professionals can make when given appropriate opportunities and support.