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A CSI strategy anchored to the green economy enhances Nedbank’s ability to do good
A CSI strategy anchored to the green economy enhances Nedbank’s ability to do good
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One of the biggest challenges for corporate social investment (CSI) in South Africa is the fact that the demand for financial support of worthy causes and upliftment projects continues to outstrip supply. Responding to this challenge demands that organisations find ways to optimise the support they make available and ensure that every rand provided through their CSI initiatives delivers maximum bang for their CSI buck.
For Nedbank, responding appropriately to this need means constantly revisiting and adapting its CSI strategy and approach to align with the constantly shifting needs of people and communities. At the end of 2019, this comprehensive self-assessment led the Nedbank Foundation – Nedbank’s primary CSI arm – to identify the green economy as a sustainable and meaningful overarching theme around which the group’s entire CSI strategy and approach could be designed going forward.
According to Poovi Pillay, Executive Head of the Nedbank Foundation, the decision to anchor Nedbank’s CSI efforts in the green economy was based on the recognition of the green economy as much more than just an environmental issue, but rather a key enabler of South Africa’s economic growth, social upliftment and inclusion, and the protection of the country’s natural ecosystem.
He explains. ‘Our commitment to the green economy as our CSI anchor strategy is one of the key ways in which we intend contributing to its realisation and sustainable effectiveness. Our green economy anchor theme enables us to deliver on our purpose (to do good) in a way that maximises our social impact while creating shared value for all our stakeholders and our own business.’
While the official implementation of the Green Economy CSI strategy had to be put on hold in 2020 due to Covid-19, the Nedbank Foundation has gradually been realigning its key support focus areas to the four main themes underpinning the strategy, namely agriculture, energy, water and waste. The strategy has been implemented at the start of 2021 and since then, its potential to maximise Nedbank’s CSI commitment has been made patently clear through the outcomes delivered by the projects receiving support.
Green economy strategic lever 1: Agriculture
The agriculture strategic lever focuses on supporting innovative supply chains, beneficiation, diversification in the sector, appropriate land use, regenerative agriculture and building climate-change resilience. Just one example of a project that is achieving these outcomes through Nedbank’s partnership and support is the Buhle Farmers Adacemy.
The programme is working to address specific constraints that developing farmers face and support them by providing training, skills transfer coaching, mentoring and start-up funding assistance. To date, the Nedbank Foundation has provided close to R5 million in support, which has enabled the 10 participating farmers to enhance the business performance of their farms, deliver employment opportunities, maximise their involvement in the food value chain and contribute to local economic development and food security in their communities.
Green economy strategic lever 2: Energy
and climate-change mitigation across the sector. The Kgabiso Palesa Cares non-profit invests in the development of around 100 young people and 10 small, medium and microenterprises in deep rural parts of Northern Cape and Free State, with the aim of preparing them to take advantage of emerging opportunities in the fast-growing renewable-energy sector.
Green economy strategic lever 3: Water
As long-time leaders in water stewardship, Nedbank has first-hand experience of the power of partnerships in building water resilience and security. The aim with this strategic lever is to build even more partnerships to maintain and restore water ecosystems and improve efficiency and availability.
Indalo Inclusive SA is a prime example of the potential to make a sustainable difference through a cross-cutting green economy approach. Indalo supports and promotes social, green, inclusive and responsible entrepreneurship that contributes to economic development and employment. With Nedbank’s support, Indalo is establishing its Indalopreneur programme to support 30 green enterprises in various sectors, including water security, to achieve business resilience and sustainability.
Green economy strategic lever 4: Waste
By supporting projects across the entire waste supply chain, Nedbank aims to improve waste management, drive innovation in the sector, and ensure the integration of the informal waste sector into the formal economy for the benefit of all stakeholders.
The Tafara Foundation is a women-owned, non-profit organisation working to establish an end-of-life tyre recycling plant that will recycle tyres into various reusable forms, reducing the number of these toxic items in landfills, while also creating hundreds of formal and informal income-earning opportunities.
‘The identification of the green economy as the Nedbank CSI anchor also enables us to consolidate and align our CSI activities across our group,’ Pillay explains. ‘This strategically aligned approach is helping us to fully maximise the value of the support we offer, making a real and lasting contribution to sustainable development and catalysing scalable economic and employment opportunities.’
