Inditex : 780 youths have joined Inditex's stores in the first 10 years of this programme for integrating people at risk of exclusion into the workplace

• The chairman and CEO of Inditex, Pablo Isla, met today with representatives of the various editions of the French programme in Paris, the city where this initiative took off 10 years ago, and told them that 'we feel particularly proud of the example you give and the value we are generating together for the community and society'
• The initiative is called 'Jeunes' in France and 'Salta' in the other 10 countries in which it operates in collaboration with 40 charities and NGOs and aims at training and providing work to groups of people who otherwise would have great difficulty entering the workplace

The chairman and CEO of Inditex, Pablo Isla, met in Paris with 'graduates' of the various editions of the Jeunes programme to mark the endeavour's tenth anniversary. The initiative was set up in France a decade ago with the aim of training and providing in-store work experience to people at risk of social exclusion due to serious difficulties in accessing the job market.

Pablo Isla told the representatives that 'all of us here at the Inditex Group feel particularly proud of the example you give'. He recalled the scope for internal promotion within the Group, adding 'we are very pleased with the innovative nature of this programme and the value we are generating together for the community and society'.

The event was attended by all of the members of the last group of participants and representatives from the prior 20 groups who came together celebrate the tenth anniversary of this programme which to date has given work to 780 beneficiaries across the Group's stores, factories and logistics centres; 67% of these youths are still working at the company and 7% have already been promoted.

The project was created in Paris in 2008 under the name Jeunes (Youths) and has since been rolled out in 11 other cities under the name of Salta (Leap): Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Milan, Athens, Hamburg, Warsaw, London, Lisbon, Mexico City, São Paulo and New York.

1,259 company employees have participated in the project over the last decade as volunteers, teachers, tutors or mentors. The endeavour has also boasted the participation of celebrities such as the French football side's coach Raymond Domenech, the former cyclist Bernard Hinault, the mountain climber Edurne Pasaban, the painter Lita Cabellut and the dancer Nadia Adame, all of whom shared their tough experiences and how they overcame them with the participants. More than 40 charities and NGOs also collaborate with the initiative, helping with the selection process, as well as with the training and subsequent monitoring of the participants once on the job.

Contribution to community well-being

Salta is one of several initiatives which Inditex pursues under the umbrella of its community investment strategy, which is articulated mainly around education, community well-being and humanitarian aid programmes. These economic regeneration, humanitarian and educational projects benefitted 1.1 million people last year, underpinned by €40 million of investment.

Inditex collaborates with 367 non-profit entities to tackle different shared projects that the latter spearhead on the ground. The idea is to work together to further society's development. In the past year, the Group assisted with 519 projects.