South African organisations put their successes rather than challenges on stage as BRAG opened at the University of Johannesburg, showcasing projects already delivering measurable social impact.
The third annual Best Results and Achievements Gathering (BRAG), hosted by Social TV in partnership with the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA), opened on Wednesday with leaders from government, business, academia and civil society sharing programmes already creating opportunities across South Africa.
Running from 12 to 14 August at UJ’s Sanlam Auditorium, the summit is being held under the theme, “Reimagining Employability: Skills, Systems, and Social Impact.” The official programme positioned Day One around “Building Pathways into Opportunity.”
Professor Pragna Rugunanan, Vice-Dean Research in the Faculty of Humanities and Professor in Sociology at UJ, joined Mr Dries Pretorius, Member of Executive Council at the University of Johannesburg, for the opening, with Rugunanan standing in for Faculty of Humanities Executive Dean Professor Kammila Naidoo.
From the outset, the emphasis was deliberately placed on results.
BRAG differs from many social-impact gatherings by asking speakers to prioritise what is working rather than spending their presentations defining South Africa’s challenges. Organisations are encouraged to present successful projects, measurable achievements, partnerships and models capable of being strengthened or replicated.
Government opens with opportunity
Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Narend Singh was the first speaker of the morning and used his presentation to provide attendees with a detailed view of successes and opportunities within the department.
Singh highlighted thousands of bursary and employment opportunities created through the department’s work and placed particular emphasis on opportunities currently available to young South Africans.
His message was practical: opportunities already exist and young people need to know where to find them and take advantage of them.
André Oberholzer, Group Head of Corporate Affairs at Sappi, followed by taking attendees through the Sappi ecosystem and its mandate to create opportunities.
Oberholzer highlighted career possibilities connected to forestry and the environment, encouraging young people to broaden their understanding of the sectors in which future careers can be built.
The presentation demonstrated how an established company can operate within a much larger ecosystem encompassing employment, communities, sustainability and environmental careers.
eBucks showcases partnership innovation
Pieter Woodhatch, CEO of FNB eBucks, used his BRAG presentation to showcase innovations and collaborations through which the business has partnered with other organisations to create broader consumer and social impact.
Among the examples was its work with Boxer on the 99c bread campaign, demonstrating how commercial partnerships can be used to make an everyday essential more accessible.
Woodhatch also reflected on the partnership with PEP Stores and the record numbers of South Africans being reached year-on-year.
Beyond reach, the presentation highlighted dignity and demonstrated how businesses can use their scale, technology, customer networks and partnerships to develop interventions relevant to the everyday lives of consumers.
Engen puts partnerships first
Olwethu Mdabula, Corporate Social Investment Manager at Engen, unpacked the company’s thinking around partnerships and how these relationships shape the projects it develops within communities.
Rather than treating social investment as a collection of once-off interventions, Mdabula explained the importance of understanding communities, working with appropriate partners and developing projects intended to leave communities stronger.
The presentation demonstrated that successful social impact is increasingly about how organisations collaborate, rather than simply how much money they invest.
Melrose Arch balances established and emerging business
Natalie Stewart, Managing Director of Melrose Arch, provided attendees with insights into the history and evolution of the Johannesburg precinct and how diversity and community have become important elements of its everyday impact.
Stewart explored the balance between attracting established businesses and deliberately creating space for new and emerging enterprises.
Central to that approach is ensuring that businesses are not simply given an opportunity to participate, but are placed in an environment where they have the potential to develop and, importantly, scale.
Her presentation broadened the day’s definition of social impact by demonstrating that impact can be incorporated into the daily operation and development of a commercial precinct rather than existing solely through a separate corporate social investment programme.
Food Lover’s delivers millions of meals
Ridhwana Shaik, Earth Lovers Sustainability Strategy Project Manager at Food Lover’s Market, shared how the retailer and its partners delivered nearly 17 million meals during Hunger Month.
The achievement demonstrated what can happen when the reach of a major retailer is combined with partnerships designed around a specific social need.
Shaik also highlighted Food Lover’s Market’s Seeds of Change programme, which takes local South African businesses through a three-year development process designed to help qualifying products reach the retailer’s shelves.
The programme extends beyond providing shelf space.
It seeks to help SMMEs develop sustainable and profitable businesses, creating economic opportunity and dignity for entrepreneurs while bringing new South African products into a major retail environment.
Technology built for purpose
Joanna Govender, CEO of EPF Tech Fund, took attendees through interventions developed by the EPF Foundation and EPF Tech Fund and explained how the organisation partners with institutions to build solutions with a clear social purpose.
Govender outlined the mission behind the fund and how technology can be developed in response to real institutional and community needs.
Her own international recognition also provided an example of African technology leadership.
Govender received recognition at a Women in Tech award in Paris late last year, where she was the only African winner in her category, reflecting the growing influence of African innovators developing technology for purpose.
Development that reaches entire communities
Another contribution focused on how development interventions can move beyond individual beneficiaries and begin strengthening entire local economic ecosystems.
Attendees heard how a development model has worked with local leadership, secured land, established facilities and developed strategic relationships with retailers to create opportunities for businesses and people within communities.
The approach has subsequently been replicated in other areas, demonstrating the potential for community-based models to connect local enterprises with markets, employment and sustainable economic opportunities.
It reinforced a theme evident throughout Day One: partnerships become particularly powerful when they create systems through which communities can continue generating opportunity beyond the lifespan of a single intervention.
Showing South Africa what works
For BRAG founder and Social TV Managing Editor Samm Marshall, the concentration on achievement is fundamental to the event’s purpose.
Now in its third year, BRAG has developed a distinctive position within South Africa’s social-impact landscape by giving each participating organisation the opportunity to present how it is winning.
The objective is not to suggest that South Africa does not face serious social and economic challenges. Instead, BRAG deliberately creates a platform where those challenges do not dominate every conversation about impact.
For the duration of the summit, successful interventions are allowed to become the news.
That approach is particularly important when engaging young South Africans, many of whom encounter the participating companies as consumers every day without necessarily knowing what those organisations are doing beyond the products and services they sell.
Day One gave attendees an opportunity to see those brands differently.
A rewards platform could demonstrate how partnerships are making essentials more accessible. A retailer could show how its scale is being used to address hunger and develop emerging suppliers. A commercial precinct could explain how it creates opportunities for smaller businesses to scale. A forestry company could expose young people to careers they may never previously have considered.
That understanding also connects with Social TV’s focus on developing a more conscious consumer: someone who considers not only what a company sells, but how that company understands its responsibility within the communities and economy in which it operates.
The first day ultimately presented a picture of South Africa that is frequently overshadowed by conversations about what is not working.
Millions of meals have been provided. Entrepreneurs are being developed. Bursaries and employment opportunities are available. Businesses are being connected with markets. Technology is being developed for social purpose. Corporate partnerships are reaching growing numbers of South Africans.
BRAG’s third year is putting those results in front of young people and asking the organisations responsible for them to do something that the social-impact sector does not always do comfortably:
Talk about their success.
BRAG continues at the University of Johannesburg on Thursday and Friday, with further leaders from business, academia and civil society expected to showcase programmes, partnerships and achievements across employability, education, digital inclusion, workforce readiness, social innovation and professional communication.
