July 2022, Colombo Sri Lanka, Hela Apparel Holdings successfully concluded its first P.A.C.E. graduation at its manufacturing facility in Egypt on the 28th of June 2022, making the company the first apparel manufacturer to implement the globally-recognised employee empowerment initiative in the country. The ceremony certified 28 Egyptian team members as the first batch to be trained under the Personal Advancement and Career Enhancement (P.A.C.E.) program, along with 13 Egyptian trainers under the P.A.C.E. Train the Trainer program. This achievement marks a landmark expansion of this global initiative with the support of one of Hela’s strategic customers PVH Corp, the owning company of leading global brands including Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.
P.A.C.E. is a foundational life skills training program designed to improve skills such as communication, problem-solving and decision making, time and stress management, legal and financial literacy, general and reproductive health, and water, sanitation and hygiene among female apparel workers. As a social capital-focused company, Hela aims to provide all team members across its global footprint with access to the P.A.C.E. program. This ensures that they have the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and skills, strengthening their confidence levels while embedding equality and inclusivity across the group.
“The establishment of Hela’s first manufacturing facility in Egypt earlier this year was a key milestone for the company, and I’m extremely pleased we were able to roll out the P.A.C.E. program within just a few months. We’ve been impressed by the enthusiasm for the initiative among our Egyptian team members and seeing how the participants have developed their knowledge and skills through the program brings me immense pride. As a social capital-focused company, we believe in equal opportunities and access to resources for all employees across the group. I take this opportunity to congratulate all 28 P.A.C.E. graduates and certified trainers on their achievement” said, Sanath Amaratunga, CEO of Hela Kids Wear.
The program was initiated in Egypt on the 16th of April 2022 and implemented through a combination of practical and theoretical sessions, making learning more interactive and enjoyable for those involved. The continuous guidance from PVH on the program also helped to ensure that the trainers adapted their methods to the local cultural context and added value to each individual, helping them grow in knowledge and understanding.
A representative from PVH Corp also joined the celebration virtually and shared his comments, “We wish to thank the management of Hela and the trainers for a job well done. This is a wonderful moment for both parties and we are extremely proud of this achievement. Hela has proven to us once more that its vision goes beyond making garments and it’s about making a positive impact in the lives of the people within the organization. We take this opportunity to congratulate the graduates, trainers and team and we look forward to many more milestones such as this in the future”.
The P.A.C.E. program was initiated within the Hela group in 2019 in partnership with PVH and has since been implemented in Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and Egypt. The program is set to be rolled out to the company’s Kenyan manufacturing facility in the near future and Hela aims to certify over 5,000 graduates across the group by 2024.
Hela Apparel Holdings PLC is a social capital-focused company built on the principles of inclusivity, equality, and sustainability. With over three decades of industry experience, Hela focuses on building strategic partnerships with global brands to provide apparel supply chain solutions with distinctive advantages. The organisation has a global presence with 11 manufacturing facilities across Sri Lanka, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Egypt, as well as design centres in Sri Lanka, the US, UK, and France, and provides direct employment to over 20,000 people. Innovative, ethical, and sustainable apparel manufacturing is at the centre of Hela’s operations, with numerous accolades for sustainability, the organization was recently endorsed as a signatory to the UN Global Compact and was awarded the ISO 14064-1:2018 certification for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions across the group.