ACWA Power's Redstone solar project in the Northern Cape uses mirrors and molten salt to generate clean electricity while empowering locals. Twenty young people, including Priscilla Potelo, were trained in Dubai as plant operators. The company also supports schools, libraries, apprenticeships and heliostat assembly training, tackling youth unemployment and building lasting skills in the region.
The Atlantis Special Economic Zone is a green technology and advanced manufacturing hub built to share growth with its surrounding community. It channels project value to local SMMEs through mentorship and procurement, trains young people through the Solar Green Academy and STEM programmes, and involves stakeholders throughout, creating a blueprint for inclusive, long-term industrial development.
AVBOB, a century-old cooperative, shares value with South Africans through its 65 Alive benefit, which helps members improve their lives. It backs education via the Tomorrow Trust, 1,900 Trolley Libraries and early childhood centres, and creates jobs by upcycling billboards. Learnerships and mentorship help young people build careers, proving business success and social progress go together.
Barloworld builds a sustainable future through people, purpose and progress. Its Siyakhula programme funds and mentors emerging suppliers, while wellness ambassadors and the SEED programme develop ethical leaders. Rebuild centres and solar power advance a circular economy, and academies train young South Africans, including women, for skilled trades, balancing profit with planet and people.
BCX believes digital transformation is driven by people, so it invests in talent at every career stage. Internships and graduate programmes lead to permanent roles, while certifications, mentorship and leadership development keep employees current. A culture of exploration and inclusive workplace policies support wellbeing, strengthening the company and South Africa's wider digital economy.
BUCO, with over 100 stores, lives its Siyakha Sonke ('we build together') ethos by developing local talent, including women in male-dominated roles, and supporting small builders who grow into contractors. Its nearly R1 million donation of materials built the Stellenbosch Co-Create Hub, which helps over 30 majority black-owned businesses, showing BUCO is truly building people and communities.
Now in its 23rd edition, the Engen Knockout Challenge gives young South African footballers a route to professional careers. Regional qualifiers lead to the Champ of Champs, where scouts spot talent. The tournament also develops coaches and referees, supports girls' football with equal prizes, and sees alumni return as mentors, building character, opportunity and a stronger sporting future.
Fibre Circle, the paper packaging producer responsibility organisation, drives South Africa's circular economy by recovering post-consumer fibre. It supports waste reclaimers with training and equipment, backs buy-back centres and recycling entrepreneurs, promotes innovations like recycled paper mills, and teaches learners to separate waste, showing that collaboration turns waste into wealth.
FirstJob, funded by a leading financial institution, tackles youth unemployment by placing graduates in 12-month internships across sectors. Nearly a hundred partners provide mentorship, practical skills and a stipend that supports families, further study and small ventures. It nurtures an entrepreneurial mindset, and many alumni move into full-time jobs, leadership or their own businesses.
The Gauteng Industrial Development Zone at OR Tambo Airport attracts lightweight, high-value industries suited to air freight. Precinct 1 hosts agro-processing and a full jewellery value chain, while Precinct 2 will add a pharmaceutical cluster. The Springs Precinct targets fuel cells and hydrogen, and an enterprise hub supports young SMME entrepreneurs, backed by public-private partnerships.
GoTyme Bank supports South African entrepreneurs by removing barriers to financial access. Its digital-first, zero-fee transactional banking makes banking simple and more affordable for small business owners, who create jobs, spark innovation and uplift communities. Through its Go Beyond message, GoTyme Bank backs founders in craft, wellness, fashion and education, helping them shape a stronger future.
Grindrod believes education creates opportunity amid unemployment, so it backs learners from school to workplace. With Adopt A School Foundation, it improves classrooms and develops teachers, provides sanitary products that reduce absenteeism, and funds tertiary study. Internally, learnerships, mentorship and a culture of care help employees grow, connecting trade with opportunity and resilience.
The Platreef Project in Mokopane, Limpopo, set to be the world's largest platinum mine, is highly mechanised and built on empowerment. A local training centre builds skills, community entrepreneurs grow into trusted suppliers, and women advance across departments. The Masodi Wastewater Treatment Plant supplies clean water, showing how mining partnered with communities can build shared prosperity.
Lesedi Nuclear Services, rooted in Atlantis, invests in people. Its Lesedi Skills Academy has qualified hundreds of artisans and trained over 1,500 students, while 35% of its workforce is female. It sponsors a science lab at Atlantis High School, supports people with disabilities, and mentors small suppliers into thriving contractors, building lives and futures well beyond engineering projects.
Momentum Metropolitan Holdings tackles youth unemployment, gender inequality and digital skills gaps through three initiatives. She Owns Her Success mentors women entrepreneurs, Collective Shapers backs young people like maize farmer Benjamin, and the WeThinkCode partnership trains software developers, whose first jobs often triple household incomes, building a more inclusive, resilient society.
Nedbank uses its financial expertise as a force for good. Through YouGrow, it helps women founders like Tosh Detergents' owner scale up, uMaStandi enables township property entrepreneurs to build affordable rental housing, and its insurance programme trains unemployed youth as plumbing suppliers. Combining finance with mentorship builds a more inclusive, resilient economy from the ground up.
Through its AAA Sustainable Quality Program, Nespresso and TechnoServe teach Kenyan smallholder coffee farmers regenerative practices such as composting, water management and intercropping. Farmers learn to run coffee as a business, and families share decisions and income equally. Better harvests bring improved homes, schooling and resilience for nearly a million farmers and their families.
Pele Energy Group, founded by five individuals, blends renewable energy with community development. At Touwsrivier, its 36-megawatt solar plant employs mostly local staff, and a hydroponic farm offers stable jobs. It powers Katlehong Engineering School, supports small businesses through Knowledge Pele, and runs a graduate programme, aiming to deliver five gigawatts of renewable power by 2028.
A leading financial services group builds confidence and opportunity from cradle to career. It supports early childhood centres with digital tools and training, offers bridging programmes in maths and science, and trains young creatives to run businesses. It also helps established enterprises grow and builds municipal disaster resilience, creating a financially confident, empowered generation.
Shell Downstream South Africa's bursary programme helps young people from under-resourced communities study science, technology, engineering and maths. It covers tuition, accommodation, textbooks, laptops and living costs, with mentoring and counselling through TTI. Bursary Walkabout site visits link studies to real work, lifting whole families and communities and building a more equal nation.
Sibanye-Stillwater is transforming Marikana and Welkom by building economies beyond mining. In Marikana, the Agri-Hub, a chicken facility, tunnels and a community bakery create jobs and food security, alongside skills training. In Welkom, the Eco-Transformers cooperative turns waste into compost that regenerates mining land, proving that inclusive partnerships build resilient communities.
Telkom FutureMakers is a decade-long programme building South Africa's digital economy. It trains young graduates in high-end ICT skills and places thousands in jobs, while the IDF Future Fund and venture builders back startups and SMEs, including those run by women, youth and people with disabilities, helping them grow, innovate and create jobs while strengthening the national talent pipeline.
Volkswagen backs women's football in South Africa, from grassroots tournaments to the national team. Women's football still lacks resources and sponsorship, so VW provides vehicles that let players and coaches travel safely and with dignity, and uses its platform to raise visibility. This recognition helps shift perceptions, inspires young girls and lets football transform lives and communities.
