Inspiring young women to pursue exciting careers

Fight for Peace Lutadoras visit to Thames Refinery

We were delighted to host twelve young women from youth organisation Fight for Peace for a tour of our sugar refinery and discussion about careers available for women at our factory and in our business.

Fight for Peace uses the power of combat sport to inspire young people to reach their full potential. From their Academy in North Woolwich, they provide free boxing and martial arts sessions to 7–25 year-olds, combined with a range of personal development services including Education, Employability, Mentoring, and Youth Leadership support.

The Fight for Peace ‘Lutadoras’ are a group of young women and girls who take part in female-only personal development sessions which provide a safe space for all women and girls to come together to share experiences, views and opinions without judgement and empower one another. Many of the group members also attend women-only boxing sessions every Tuesday and Thursday.

On their visit, the young women saw first-hand our raw sugar shed, jetty and witnessed the packing of thousands of bags of white sugar on a tour of the Refinery. They also had the opportunity to hear from two senior women in our business on their roles and their career journeys so far. Director of Sugar Ethics, Julia Clark and Senior Director of IT, Odile Wittemans gave inspiring careers advice to follow your passion and be willing to try new things and take every opportunity given.

“I loved the experience and the fact that we could see lots of women in high positions. I felt inspired. Hearing the background of everyone that spoke to us made me realise and remember that, sometimes going with the flow will land you in a better path than you could ever plan. Being determined and optimistic about new opportunities that come can always be a start to a brighter future.”

We are looking forward to continuing to work with Fight for Peace and the Lutadoras on our shared goal of inspiring young women to pursue exciting careers.