As an essential tool for redressing the social imbalances in South Africa, and over the past 20 years, social investors in South Africa and abroad have been increasingly engaging in impactful and purposeful initiatives.
Over the years, social investment as a concept has moved from more of a tick box exercise to becoming a business imperative for the c-suite. This progressive shift has also been driven by ESG finding itself high on the agenda of corporate governance.
As the world’s most unequal society, social investors in South Africa find themselves in the unique position to rise to our most pertinent challenges and use investments as “a vehicle to implement development targets for creating a South Africa where all people are equal and have access to basic services that will assist them in living meaningful lives” (as stated in the National Development Plan 2030).
Increasing regulatory pressures, shareholder and stakeholder awareness and international advocacy, among others, has resulted in companies recognising that environmental and social issues are affecting a multitude of areas in their business. Companies are not only starting to look more critically at the positive and negative impacts of their own operations up and down their own supply chains, but they are increasingly measuring these impacts and reporting on them.
This year’s CSI – Human Face of Business looks at projects in South Africa that focus on specific codes, and companies’ responses to various developmental frameworks. Many of these projects focus on the increasing need to make a difference and to ‘give back’ to communities and the environment as well as to support local economic development activities or industry-specific requirements, such as integrated development planning (IDP).
Portfolios and case studies included this year span social entrepreneurship development; agriculture and food security; education; environment; health; job creation and skills development.
Organisations cannot be successful or grow at the expense of the natural environments or local communities within which they operate, and a solid social investment strategy now has a stronger business case than ever before.
CSI is not a hand-out upon acknowledging responsibility, but rather an investment in a company’s stakeholders to ensure that the business remains a going concern, while at the same time creating impact and contributing to the growth of the human and natural assets on which its success relies.
