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BLUE LABEL
INTEGRATED ANNUAL REPORT 2017
83
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Corporate social investment
The Group’s corporate social
responsibility remains unchanged,
focusing on the areas of youth
development, entrepreneurship and
sport. We take the view that grooming
young people into well rounded
individuals enables them to develop
entrepreneurialism and form the
workforce of our future. The projects
and programmes that we embrace are
aimed at supporting underprivileged
youth in succeeding not only
academically and in sport, but also in
the development of their softer skills,
such as leadership and life skills. In
trying to understand the many social
challenges our youth are often
exposed to, our pool of beneficiaries
incorporates those that address issues
such as domestic violence and abuse,
as well as food security. Among these
have been organisations, including
JAM International, Reach for a Dream,
Netcare Foundation and Women
and Men Against Child Abuse. Our
flagship projects are Boys & Girls Club
South Africa and the Blue Label
Alexander Cricket Development
Programme.
Boys & Girls Club South Africa
Blue Label continues to support Boys
& Girls Club of South Africa (BGCSA),
a non-profit organisation dedicated to
supporting school going and school
aged children during non-school
hours, when they are traditionally
unsupervised and idle. BGCSA
currently serves over 1 000 youths
through programmes and services that
promote academic success, a healthy
lifestyle and improved character. There
are currently two clubs, in Pimville and
Protea Glen, Soweto.
BGCSA provides access to a safe
environment, a meal a day, and
programmes and activities such as
assistance with homework, sports, life
skills, career guidance and access to
technology. BGCSA’s goal is to support
young people through their school
going years and ultimately, assist them
in completing school and then place
them in a post-matric educational or to
provide an economic opportunity. Ten
BGCSA alumni were placed in
learnerships with the assistance of Blue
Label in 2017 through the BYTES
Technology Group. They will do
practical training in the Group in the
second half of 2017.
BGCSA has a solid proof of concept.
Growth plans include operating
10 clubs by 2020 and developing an
extensive support network for more
children and families across greater
Johannesburg.
Blue Label Alexander Cricket
Development Programme
Blue Label shares a purpose of
addressing inequality of opportunity,
by enabling all South Africans to
interact and transact on an equal
footing. Inequality is not limited to the
commercial world, but more pervasive
at an educational level, where
opportunities are limited for young
black children.
The objective of the Alexander
Development Programme is to develop
cricket within the Alexandra Township
Primary Schools through a mass
participation programme focusing
on teaching fundamental cricket
and life skills. During the year the
programme ran over a 12 week cycle
with 6 000 children participating from
12 previously disadvantaged schools.
Focus areas for 2017 – 2018
f
Creating a social enterprise strategy;
f
Forming a stronger business
alignment with mainstream business
strategy and operations;
f
Forming a stronger partnership with
increasing collaboration among
beneficiaries; and
f
Continuing to focus on the
expansion of our flagship project,
Boys & Girls Club of South Africa.