Absa, in partnership with Blue Label Investments, will install 2 300 multifaceted communication and banking ZOK containers in previously-disadvantaged communities over the next three years.
ZOK is consortium made up of ZCC, Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs, Blue Label Investments and Vodacom.
The project, commencing in January, will attempt to contribute to job creation for approximately 9 200 individuals, according to Venete Klein, executive director of the Absa group.
The containers will be used to provide a range of services: Absa ATMs, Internet access, a multifunctional machine for photocopying, scanning and printing, Vodacom public phones, and Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs soccer merchandise.
According to Allen Mahadeo, GM of Absa group self service channel, each container with a machine in it will cost about R200 000. "Not all the containers will house an ATM. It will depend on a site analysis and feasibility studies," he says.
"There are 13 sites where ATMs have been installed. A further nine sites have been approved for the deployment of ATMs, another nine sites are still to be assessed in terms of feasibility and another 32 sites have been identified as opportunities."
Klein says the containers will be manned by a total of four people drawn from the community, working in shifts of two.
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