Socio-economic and community development
OUR approach
As a major player in the base of the pyramid markets, contributing meaningfully to address inequality of opportunity and financial inclusion within society remains an ongoing area of focus for Blue Label Telecoms. Our aim has been to transcend the purely philanthropic and compliance paradigm by going beyond traditional corporate social responsibility (CSR) and embedding a 'shared value' ethos in our transformation and business strategy.
This ethos defines how we partner with non-profit organisations to effect social change by aligning our programmes and initiatives to our business strategy and long-term growth and sustainability objectives.
Significant changes were made in the last year that demonstrate our commitment to enable the above paradigm shift, and to demonstrate that we take our role as a South African corporate citizen seriously.
HIGHLIGHTS OF 2019
Please refer to the human capital section to access further information.
Appointment of a dedicated transformation team to drive the transformation both internally and externally.
Trust Blu Foundation Proprietary Limited
The aim of the Trust Blu Foundation is to connect non-profit organisations and social enterprise innovators with a unique blend of financial support and other resources to enable them to amplify their impact. These organisations understand the dynamics and needs of marginalised and vulnerable communities, and are therefore pivotal in effecting meaningful impact and socio-economic transformation. Our approach is to proactively work with them to tackle the complex socio-economic challenges by providing access to funding, as well as leveraging off of our expertise in technology and innovation to create new solutions to address inequality. In so doing, we are able to assist these organisations in facilitating sustainable economic inclusion, while simultaneously strengthening our brand equity and market reach.
The foundation is mandated to focus on two key areas, namely youth development and entrepreneurship.
All programmes and initiatives are underpinned by the introduction and incorporation of information and cellular technology (ICT), as well as innovation. At Blue Label we see investing in ICT and embracing technology as necessary in order to bridge the digital divide, thereby achieving a more inclusive digital society. We believe that by doing so we can fast track positive socio-economic transformation and meaningful participation of blacks, women, youth and people with disabilities in South Africa.
Boys and Girls clubs of South Africa
Boys and Girls Clubs of South Africa remained our flagship project for the year. The clubs' mission is to inspire and enable our disadvantaged youth to reach their full potential as productive, caring and responsible citizens, and to assist them to attain sustainable access to economic and educational opportunities post matric.
BGCSA supports over 1 800 children annually across six clubs, namely Pimville, Protea Glen, Bertrams, Alexandra, Vrededorp and Maraisburg.
An integral part of BGCSA's operations is introducing and ensuring all children are computer literate.
All facilities have daily programmes that teach and enhance young people's ICT skills, including equipment to support these programmes. The funding received from Blue Label was allocated to these programmes, both for the resources required to run the programmes daily, as well as the capital expenditure for items like hardware and software, that are required to set up a club.
Blue Label Alexandra Youth Development Programme
The Alexandra Cricket Development Programme is a life skills programme powered by a partnership between Blue Label Telecoms and the Cricket Company. The programme takes place during school hours as a component of their Life Orientation sessions. It utilises the game of cricket to equip children with valuable tools to assist them with everyday life.
The programme is run in 12 primary schools in Alexandra, and reaches approximately 10 000 children per year.
During the course of the year the 15 students that demonstrate exceptional character and high potential in cricket are selected to form part of the Alex XI cricket team. The team plays in the Montrose night series where they interact and compete against Gauteng's top cricketing schools. This season was the team's most successful season in the competition, with the Alex XI finishing runners up.
In line with our focus to bridge the digital divide in the underprivileged communities, a reading programme was piloted with the use of tablets and the Edu reader app. The pilot was carried out at three of the 12 schools over a three-week period and approximately 1 000 children participated.
The programme was a finalist at the 2018 Sport Industry Awards in the 'Development Programme of the Year' category where it competed against the likes of Engen's Youth Development Programme.
Ict refurbishment project
The ICT refurbishment and skills development project was a partnership between Blue Label and Afrika Tikkun. Afrika Tikkun is a non-profit organisation serving over 12 000 beneficiaries and is dedicated to the reduction of youth unemployment in South Africa by tackling the socio-economic drivers that make it difficult for young people to access the economy.
The programme focuses on young people from previously disadvantaged communities between the ages of 7 and 18 years.
It aims to provide young people with ICT skills exposure such as introduction to the world of computers, introduction to computer programming, coding, website design and the internet of things. The ICT programme will provide the opportunity for young people to be able to use the internet to conduct research for their school assignments and to improve their typing skills, to access previous question papers, do research for their careers and apply for bursaries to further their learning.
ESPAZA SUM
The Group continues to provide support and expertise to eSpaza Sum for the refurbishment and upkeep of South African-owned spaza shops.
In line with our aspirations to digitise the informal sector, we are actively working together to develop innovative business management solutions for this unique sector.
With the support of Blue Label, the spazas continue to report increases in revenue.
The Letsatsi Kasi-Village
The Letsatsi Kasi-Village project was co-pioneered by Blue Label Telecoms and the late Tshepo Seeta. Tshepo was the founder and managing director of eSpaza Sum, and a valued customer and friend of the Group.
The focus of the Letsatsi project is on the development of chic and modern containerised community-based business and entrepreneur hubs.
It reflects our proactive approach and commitment to micro and small enterprise development. These hubs offer a physically and technologically enabling environment for youth-driven micro enterprises to incubate, scale and thrive with a view to 'leap frog' them into the fourth industrial and digital revolution. By stimulating the demand side of the economy we believe we can positively impact our youth unemployment crisis.
The first pilot Letsatsi Kasi-Village located in Nellmapius in the City of Tshwane was launched in December 2018. It hosts a hair and beauty salon, business centre and internet café, fast food outlet, and a clothing and apparel store.
Other projects
In addition to the above interventions, we continued to partner with other non-profit organisations to address social issues that our youth are exposed to, such as domestic violence and abuse, and food security. JAM International, Reach for a Dream and Women and Men against Child Abuse are some of our longstanding beneficiaries and have played a significant role in enabling our programmes over the last year.
Significant resources and expertise have been allocated to our current programmes and initiatives through our newly created Trust Blu Foundation. Therefore, going forward our key focus is on consolidation and scale, as well as continued collaboration with our non-profit organisation and implementation partners.
