Social impact: Corporate social responsibility and community development

Blue Label continuously supports suppliers and enterprises defined within the vulnerable groups through procurement.

Procurement suppliers		FY23
EME		126
QSE		74
Generic		200
50% BO		150
30% BWO		93

In FY24 comparatives will be included in the above table.

Through our supplier development funding, we were able to create two jobs each for two different small businesses.

Blue Label's commitment to sustainable economic development is not purely confined to just an add-on. This is our code. Our purpose is to drive financial inclusion, opportunities and convenience for the mass market through digital distribution and e-tech ecosystems. This purpose extends to focus on youth skills development and socio-economic and enterprise development. From inception, the aim has always been to make a difference in people's lives. Consequently, we have changed many lives by providing the tools to earn a living.

In our case, we are truly purpose-driven and recognise that delivering value ultimately depends on continuously paving the way to create an inclusive business with the small businesses within communities. We have an extensive track record of fostering economic and social development in South Africa by ensuring the availability of products and services for those with low incomes and who have been previously disadvantaged.

We are committed and aware that our social responsibility continues to generate value for all.

Projects completed in FY23, over and above flagship donations:

• We are supporting our merchants in order to enable them to operate our devices during load shedding and electricity outages, by supplying over 400 BLD merchants in need with solar inverters. This improves our business while caring for our merchants' businesses.
• Supporting Christel House in education and workplace readiness and building character for unemployed people in the community by collaborating in a programme to join our U-Belong family in Cape Town. This provides employment following the completion of the programme.

Approved Blue Label subsidiary projects:

• Trust Blu U-Belong, co-funding project and T3SA as the implementation partner which will provide job opportunities for over 1 000 learners and the possible opportunity to open their own businesses after two years.
• Adopt-a-School project as well as extending technology centres.

Over the past two years, we have selected and built relationships with the above-mentioned flagship beneficiaries that align with our purpose. We aim to create an ecosystem whereby we can work together. See our Trust Blu Report at About - Trust Blu Foundation for further detail.

Enterprise development:

• Supporting Sizanani to equip the business in order to operate in the mainstream economy by building infrastructure in the community, connecting the community and supplying solar electricity for approximately 200 households.

We continuously encourage our employees to partake in SED initiatives and giving back to the community.

Our employees have the opportunity to become involved in our social responsibility programmes, which to name a few are as follows:

• They have donated and distributed two tons of clothing and bedding to KwaZulu-Natal during the floods in order to assist them during such difficult times, and their communities in a very difficult time;
• Our employees and some of our subsidiaries have contributed to establishing "Hug in a Box" for one of our beneficiaries whose main purpose is to care for abused individuals and children; and
• Our employees have donated books to a library to one our beneficiaries that operates in the community and provides after-school programmes.

We are responsive to the community that we serve. Our largest contribution to society is in the ordinary course of our business. We have many informal market merchants that form part of our vast footprint selling our virtual products in the community.

We will continue to invest in and create sustainable programmes in education in order to provide employment and entrepreneurship for a better future.

• Retain compliance level for BBBEE scorecard at level 4;
• Build leadership for the future through our leadership development programme by increasing our number of managerial employees enrolled on management programmes;
• Balance gender representation towards our target of 50%/50% overall by 2026;
• Support the job creation project within Trust Blu through the U-Belong initiative and external funding to support this project. Create 200 new jobs and absorb 1% at the end of the financial year;
• Improve management control by a further two points to support and improve our three-year equity plan, of which one year has lapsed already; and
• Appoint one more Black candidate on the Blue Label Board in the African Female category.