Atlas Copco South Africa female employees were invited to ‘awaken their fighting spirt’ by attending a self-defense class in support of this year’s Women’s Day.

A Woman INpowered radio advert prompted Atlas Copco South Africa Corporate Communications and ACademy Manager, Kathryn Coetzer, to contact the company and invite them to host a self-defense class for the Atlas Copco ladies.

“We had an overwhelming response from the ladies to the invitation which was themed ‘Awaken your fighting spirit’, who embraced this initiative with open arms.”

WIP has been operating for close on five years and founder, Mark Grobbelaar, addressed the ladies. Explaining what WIP represents, Mark’s message to the ladies is that they can do anything they set their mind to. “WIP is NOT a self-defense class; it is an extremely simple, easy to learn, yet devastatingly effective self INpowerment system that has been designed specifically for women.”

Each lady was given the opportunity to learn one technique that can possibly save her life.  After WIP instructor, Derek Olsen, taught them the necessary skills, the ladies were encouraged to break a 2cm thick wooden plank with their fist. Each and every lady succeeded!

They were pleasantly surprised at their achievement because at the beginning of the class the ladies laughed at the idea and thought it impossible but after the class they said were motivated and mentally prepared for this task.

The ladies’ ability to break the plank perfectly summarises the company’s vision ‘to be a world leader in the art of INpowering women to have the ability mentally and physically to make a choice in any situation or circumstance in today’s challenging society.’

The class teaches women to identify a potential threat and by mastering a simple technique, ladies develop confidence in themselves to be better prepared if faced with a dangerous situation.

This exercise shows women that they have a choice and, armed with the right mind-set and a simple technique, the Atlas Copco ladies are INpowered.