“Working for the Shoprite Group has been a real blessing. I realised my passion for retail and pushed myself hard in order to climb the career ladder,” says Rushana Desani (46) from Delft, Cape Town.

She was unemployed before joining Checkers Willowbridge as a Till Packer in 2016.

“I enjoyed serving customers and even had regular customers who would wait in line to get to the till where I was stationed,” explains Desani. It was Imogene de Kock, the Branch Manager at the time, who recognised Desani’s potential and encouraged her to apply for the position of Cashier.

From Cashier, Desani was promoted to Stock Counting Clerk and then to Receiving Clerk, before becoming the Receiving Admin Clerk at Checkers Constantia.

The Shoprite Group is South Africa’s largest private sector employer with over 140 000 employees, excluding indirect employment. Despite the effect of the lockdown and unrest on retail trade, the Group still managed to create 4 608 new jobs in South Africa in the past financial year.

Over the past five years, the Group has spent more than R700 million on extensive retail skills and training programmes and about 64% of its employees are women.

“It hasn’t been an easy journey getting to where I am now, but I wouldn’t change it for the world,” says Desani.

Read more about how the Shoprite Group continues to invest in creating jobs and providing thousands of young people with retail skills into 2022.