BLT’s commitment to sustainable economic development is real and not just an add-on, it is our code. By maintaining high ethical standards and a strong brand, we live our social responsibility to generate value for all our stakeholders while helping build a healthier society. Our purpose is to focus on youth, socio-economic, and enterprise development. From inception, we wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. And by doing what we do, we have changed many lives by providing the tools to earn a living, which in the early days was unimaginable. We have changed the distribution landscape and are a main proponent for the resurgence of the informal economy. We have empowered informal vendors, allowing them to compete successfully with the formal retail and banking segments through a simplistic way of transacting in the digital world. They are now successfully doing business and competing with the same products and services that were previously unavailable in these markets, in the same way transactions are done in the formal market.
Our organisation is responsive to the needs of the community around us:
“Purpose-driven organisations” has become a buzz phrase.
In our case, we are truly purpose driven and recognise that delivering value ultimately depends on continuously paving the way to create an inclusive business with, and for, the base of the pyramid of communities. We have an extensive track record of fostering economic and social development in South Africa.
As one of the leaders in our field, we believe that accelerated transformation and greater economic inclusion are essential to strengthening the South African economy and accelerating growth over the long term.
We are proud that in this light we were nominated and were a finalist in the Standard Bank Top Empowerment awards this year.
Our focus is on building sustainable practices to enhance and cultivate our Social and Economic Development Framework by building our portfolio and growing a profitable business with skilled individuals that continuously respond to the needs of the environment within which they operate, as well as building trust in communities.
We are ambitious, but careful to ensure that our economic and social role is shaped by our Social, Ethics, and Transformation Committee. It is vital that we do not impose our own ambition and disrupt economies and societies.
Our licence to operate is underpinned by leadership encouraging a “growth mindset”. This allows our employees to be part of our journey as we create a shared value mindset in our transformation as well as business objectives. We operationalise these commitments through measurement of the following:
We are a major player in the bottom-of-the-pyramid market. Contributing meaningfully to equal opportunities and financial inclusion will remain an ongoing focus for the Group through these four areas:
This year we have partnered with subject matter experts to perform a gap analysis on our ESG-related disclosures and will compile a three-year plan with measurable actions. We remain committed to engaging with and learning from all our stakeholders. As always, we continue to emphasise the transition to transparent and agile ESG reporting.
We have invested in a hydroponic vegetable garden for the benefit of our employees in Sandton, and in the interest of promoting health and wellness within the company. Our employees can take fresh vegetables and herbs for home consumption.
We have supported an education initiative through a school in Masibambane, Orange Farm to support their vision of creating a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) school by providing them with solar power. We have also facilitated online training throughout the country.
Our commitment to sustainable living has led us to support Afrivista in their attempt to supply clean water to communities where this has previously not been possible.
Over the last couple of years, we have selected and built relationships with a number of flagship beneficiaries that align to our purpose. We aim to create an ecosystem where we can do more together rather than changing lives by ourselves. See our Trust Blu Report for further detail.
We are responsive to the community we serve. Our largest contribution to society is in the ordinary course of our business. This year we have increased the number of merchants selling our virtual products in the community from 12 000 to 17 000. We aim to support them by rolling out a solar solution programme to allow them to keep operating during power outages. We will continue to invest in and create sustainable programmes in education to provide employment and entrepreneurship for a better future.
We are pleased to echo the Chair of the Social, Ethics and Transformation Committee’s view of Blue Label Telecoms and their partners: “We have made excellent progress in using our imagination to shape how we grow our business to serve our customers and communities with excellence, and to remain profitable and sustainable in the years to come”.
