FNB and WesBank have renewed support for On The Road, strengthening a platform connecting road freight SMMEs with practical knowledge, finance and industry opportunities across borders.
FNB and WesBank have renewed their sponsorship of the On The Road Podcast for a second consecutive year as the platform continues to grow its reach among South Africa’s road freight and transport entrepreneurs.
Hosted by Florence Musundwa, Convenor of the Road Freight SME Summit, the podcast has grown from a specialist industry platform into a space where truck owners, drivers, fleet managers and entrepreneurs can discuss the commercial realities of building sustainable transport businesses.
The renewed partnership comes as On The Road passes 7,100 YouTube subscribers and 300,000 YouTube views, while its TikTok community has grown beyond 30,000 followers and two million views.
The growth is particularly significant when compared with the beginning of the first sponsored year, when the podcast had approximately 800 YouTube subscribers and 2,700 TikTok followers.
In the 28 days to 5 October 2026, the YouTube channel recorded more than 18,500 views and around 1,600 hours of watch time.
Almost 58% of viewers during that period were not yet subscribers, suggesting the content continues to reach people beyond the platform’s established audience.
For road freight SMMEs, that reach matters.
South Africa’s transport economy depends heavily on smaller operators who move goods between businesses, cities and borders, yet many of the challenges they face receive relatively little attention in mainstream business conversations.
Cash flow, financing, fuel costs, maintenance, pricing, procurement and fleet management can determine whether a small transport business survives or fails.
On The Road attempts to make those conversations more accessible by giving operators a platform to hear directly from industry specialists, business owners and organisations working across the freight ecosystem.
“Road freight is fundamental to the movement of goods across South Africa and the wider Southern African region, yet the experiences of the small and emerging operators who form an important part of the industry are often absent from mainstream business conversations,” Musundwa said.
“On The Road was created to change that.”
The partnership with FNB and WesBank demonstrates how corporate sponsorship can create shared value when commercial expertise is connected directly to the needs of entrepreneurs.
For transport businesses, access to finance is only part of the challenge.
Owners also need practical information about managing vehicles, controlling operating costs, understanding financing structures and making decisions that protect increasingly narrow margins.
FNB Fleet Services, offered and serviced by WesBank, provides tools including the Auto Card for fuel, oil, tolls, repairs and maintenance, as well as Fleet Online, which allows businesses to monitor and manage fleet-related costs.
That alignment gives the partnership a stronger social-impact dimension than conventional brand sponsorship.
Rather than supporting content purely for visibility, the collaboration places financial services and practical business information inside conversations already being followed by transport entrepreneurs.
This is particularly relevant for SMMEs that may not have large finance teams, procurement departments or access to specialist industry advisers.
A trusted industry platform can help reduce that information gap.
On The Road’s audience is primarily South African, accounting for approximately 65% of its YouTube viewers, but the platform is also attracting audiences from Botswana, Zambia, Namibia and Kenya.
That regional reach reflects the cross-border nature of road freight and the shared challenges faced by operators moving goods across Southern and East African markets.
The podcast’s flagship Reality series has tackled issues including fuel prices, cash flow, pricing, fleet profitability, public procurement, corruption, illegal truck drivers, cross-border trade, rail reform and opportunities in last-mile delivery.
Guests have included representatives from the Road Freight Association, African Women in Supply Chain Association, SA Express Parcel Association, Supply Chain Council SA and Africa Rail Industries Association, alongside business owners and specialists from across the sector.
The value of those conversations lies in moving beyond success stories.
For emerging entrepreneurs, hearing how other operators have dealt with cash-flow crises, pricing pressure, business setbacks and recovery can provide knowledge that may otherwise be difficult or expensive to access.
That is where media platforms can contribute to social capital.
They connect entrepreneurs with ideas, expertise, networks and experiences beyond their immediate circles.
“I started On The Road because the people who keep this country moving needed a platform where they could have honest conversations about what it really takes to build and run a transport business,” Musundwa said.
“The response has shown us that the industry was waiting for this conversation.”
For Musundwa, FNB and WesBank’s decision to return for a second year also demonstrates the potential value of businesses investing in media platforms that understand specific entrepreneurial communities.
“It demonstrates that there is value in investing in platforms that understand the lived realities of entrepreneurs and create access to information, ideas and conversations that can help businesses grow,” she said.
The partnership also reflects a broader shift in corporate social investment and shared-value thinking.
Supporting entrepreneurship does not always require creating a new programme from scratch.
Businesses can also strengthen existing platforms that already have trust, audience and credibility within particular sectors.
That can make corporate resources more relevant because they are delivered through channels entrepreneurs already use.
As On The Road enters its next phase, the ambition is to deepen that connection between industry knowledge, financial education, entrepreneurial experience and market opportunity.
For South Africa’s road freight SMMEs, the success of the partnership will ultimately be measured by more than subscriber numbers or views.
The deeper impact will be whether access to better information, stronger networks and practical financial tools helps more transport entrepreneurs build sustainable businesses, protect jobs and participate more effectively in one of the country’s most important economic sectors.
