Social impact means business for SA

The first panel discussion, moderated by Gugulethu Mfuphi, focused on social impact and what it means for business. Business is frequently criticised for not focusing sufficiently on the social aspect of ESG.

South Africans may be feeling isolated, but there remains strength in social impact. As businesses we need to make this connection if we are going to take sustainable next steps. We need to effect change, close the skills gaps, crack down on unacceptably high unemployment by opening the doors to the youth and collaborate and trade more with small and medium-sized businesses. Critically, we need to grow a skills base within the youth segment because we can’t afford to leave the youth behind if we want to be sustainable. Ultimately, it’s about managing our country as a sustainable business of great potential.

Professor Lauren Graham, associate professor and director at the Centre for Social Development in Africa at the University of Johannesburg, pointed out that at a micro level there are pockets of excellence at all levels of society. We need to highlight those pockets of excellence, she said.

Government has many leverage points which it is not making sufficient use of. Small and medium-sized businesses often don’t have human resources departments and are not aware of government initiatives they can take advantage of. We could, for example, take better advantage of the skills development levy, she suggested. Critically, we need to make it easier for the youth to access skills development initiatives.

Importantly, most private sector businesses genuinely want to make a difference, said Graham, adding that it is important to grow awareness of available policy mechanisms. “We need to scale wide and scale up and help to shift policies.” has been very purposeful about its sustainability journey. Telkom has made significant investments in thousands of SMMEs through the Telkom Future Makers Programme, partnering with skills development organisations and providing funding.

Brent Lindeque, editor and chief of Good Things Guy, agreed that businesses do care and want to make a positive difference. “Doing good is good for business,” he said, adding that when we assist other South Africans to rise, we all rise together.

He commended NGOs for the being the backbone of SA, revealing that they are doing a huge amount of good work for disadvantaged communities.

Nazrana Sultan is head of strategy and business planning at Digital Frontiers, an online education business which offers programmes that support the acceleration of global initiatives in digital finance services and financial inclusion, gender equality and inclusive digital economies.

“We believe that 20% of the world’s future jobs will be dedicated to solving the world’s biggest problems which is why we have a mission to co-create future skills and redefine capabilities while connecting ecosystems that establish opportunities for work for good,” said Sultan, adding that the company aims to create both an impact positive and build skills capacity.

All too often the terms CSI, ESG and sustainability are used interchangeably, he pointed out, adding that it is often difficult to measure the impact of sustainability initiatives.

Arguing that education is key to creating a better SA, he referenced The Unlimited’s early childhood development centres which have helped more than 1m children in the last decade to be ready to start school.

Dr Mmaki Jantjies, group executive responsible for Innovation and Transformation at Telkom SA said a public-private partnership focused on skills development – the Telkom Centres of the Excellence – have been hugely successful and seen thousands of graduates completing their tertiary studies with honours, masters and Phd’s.

“If we hope to make an impact at scale, we need to prioritise public-private partnerships,” said Jantjies, adding that Telkom

SA re-energised

The second panel discussion, moderated by Alishia Seckam, analysed the dynamics that shape the reality of SA’s energy and infrastructure crisis, unpacking possible solutions to rebuild the epicentres of crumbling infrastructure, how to rewire the national energy grid and how to secure a sustainable economic future for all.

Perhaps top of mind in any discussion around the energy crisis facing SA is whether the newly appointed minister of electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is up to the task he has been set? Busisiwe Mavuso, CEO of Business Leadership SA pointed out that Eskom reports to a total of seven different ministries. She questioned why the minister of electricity has to ask for permission to visit power stations from minister Pravin Gordhan.

Carmel Kistasamy, head of Global Development Organisations for Pan-Africa at Absa Group said that in the private sector the narrative has changed around public-private collaborations.

“From an Absa perspective, we are focusing on empowering communities. The Absa Young Africa Works Programme, for example, is a collaboration between Absa Bank Ghana and the Mastercard Foundation to deliver resources such as funding, training, access to industry experts and access to players along the value chain to help scale up micro, small and medium scale businesses.”

Since its inception, she revealed, the programme has created 16 000 jobs in Ghana. Key to its success have been successful partnerships.

Financial inclusion is a key focus of Absa. Ready to Work is a platform that the bank created to bridge the gap between job seekers and recruiters. It helps job seekers become work ready and to date has supported 30 000 individuals.

Her biggest concern, however, was that there is no clear mandate and no clear plan around resolving the energy crisis. “We need to take the least cost route – but is Karpowership really the least cost route,” she asked.

As crime and corruption at Eskom continue to cripple the state-owned power utility, Mavuso questioned whether it can be salvaged when there does not appear to be the political will to fix it. “The energy crisis is not about capacity. The problem is that the decisions that need to be made at Eskom are being made at Luthuli House and people who don’t have the requisite experience are making the decisions. We have a leadership crisis, not a capacity issue,” she said.

Pointing to deteriorating business confidence metrics, Mavuso said SA will fail to attract investment if there is poor business confidence. “Capital is like water – it follows the path of least resistance and increasingly, investors are moving away from SA and looking to East Africa. We must not forget that capital has many addresses and currently, SA is not looking attractive.”

Poor business confidence is not being helped by a growing risk metric. “SA cannot ignore international treaties and agreements without eroding investor confidence. We can’t be a signatory to the ICC and then invite somebody like Russian president Putin to visit the country with impunity. Right now, investors are very worried about South Africa,” said Mavuso.

She urged government to get around to fixing the 20% of things that will impact 80% of the economy: energy, crime, transport and logistics.

Steven Kaplan is the 2023 president of the South African Institution for Civil Engineering (SAICE). SAICE published its fourth Infrastructure Report Card in late 2022, rating the overall condition of SA’s public infrastructure aD, the lowest rating since the report card was launched in 2006. A score of D positions the country’s public infrastructure at risk of failure.

Factors influencing the gradings include poor end user behaviour including theft, vandalism and non-payment for services, inadequate infrastructure management and maintenance, poorly conducted maintenance, and lack of capacity, explained Kaplan. “SA’s social infrastructure is failing as exhibited by the water issues currently being experienced in Hammanskraal.”

Responding to a question as to whether SA under-estimates what it will take to fix Eskom, Kaplan said, “The minister of electricity has suggested a number of quick-fix solutions but if all that is needed is to put experienced engineers into power stations, why did we not do that a long time ago? Ultimately, it all comes down to capacitation and a lack of appreciation of the need for experienced engineers.”

Large energy projects require public-private partnerships. However, to attract investment they need to be bankable, pointed out Kaplan. “There has to be a culture of payment so that investors are assured of getting a return.”

A lack of industrial vision is SA’s biggest problem, maintained Jacob Maroga, director of Erinite Energy and a former CEO of Eskom. China has realised its vision of becoming the largest provider of solar products globally. SA, he said, needs a similar overarching vision.

The only credible plan to resolving the energy crisis, said Maroga, is fixing the crisis at power stations and improving the performance of each station. The reason the coal feed deteriorated, he claimed, is because too much focus was given to renewables and no attention was given to fixing existing power stations.

He added that SA has no choice but to fix Eskom and to trust in the power utility because the alternative - a parallel energy system – is misdirected. “We can’t afford to abandon Eskom. Neither can we afford to transition away from coal too early or too chaotically,” he said, adding that countries that have transitioned away from coal have done it systematically and slowly.

Maroga said the incentives in place for independent power producers was good but SA needs to realise that the private sector builds for its own bottom line and not the public good. “We need an assertive state that doesn’t rely on external funding to enable its energy system,” he insisted.