The Accenture Endowment Fund at the Pontis Foundation supports raising the skills of disadvantaged sections of the population through projects which are focused on their integration into the labour market and employment growth. What programmes are we financially supporting under the Skills to Succeed programme?

Deaf cleaners are overcoming communication barriers

Mostly due to communication barriers, people with hearing impediments often have trouble when finding a job. They stay out of the labour market, their income is limited to a disability pension, and their social network is only the world of the deaf. The social enterprise Deafinitely Clean is trying to overcome these barriers. It is a cleaning company where the only employees are deaf cleaners in Bratislava. Deafinitely Clean joins the deaf with the world of the hearing, and helps them to get to know each other better and make contacts.

We help women on maternity leave to get back into the working process

The Baba Club Maternal Centre in Šamorín wants to help mothers who can’t go back to work for various reasons. The centre created several training courses for mothers which focus on passing a job interview, computer skills and basic entrepreneurial skills. On top of that, the courses are run by mothers who are educated in the given topics, which also creates a space for the development of skills for the teachers themselves.

 Turning disadvantage into uniqueness

The non-profit organization Eduma has the innovative concept of employing the most vulnerable in society. By training people who are disadvantaged in a number of ways and who suffer a combination of physical, health and social-cultural difficulties, they create a precondition for their employability as mystery customers in the services industry. The project participants, Eduma’s mystery shoppers, will evaluate the degree of an inclusive approach in services towards customers with specific needs and disadvantages. Thanks to information received from the mystery shopping, companies working in the services industry can raise their credibility and competitiveness by developing an inclusive approach and eliminating prejudice towards customers with visible differences based on skin colour or physical or mental disability.

Supported projects

Accenture’s Endowment Fund at the Pontis Foundation supported solutions from 21 organizations. These projects were evaluated by the members of Accenture’s Board for Corporate Social Responsibility.

• Martin Bača, Operating Groups
• Kristýna Hovadíková, Enterprise
• Tamara Kadnárová, GDN
• Nina Javilak, Accenture Technology
• Eva Beňová, Accenture Operations
• Adam Munarreto, Accenture Operations
• Marek Švec
• Norbert Maur – Pontis Foundation
• Jozef Kokoška, CSR Lead / Board President