This Sasol in Society Report for the period 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023 covers the activities of all Sasol’s Business Units (BU’s). This includes Regional Operating Hubs, Enterprise and Supplier Development, Shared Value Management, International Operations and the Corporate Centre.
Message by Charlotte Mokoena, Executive Vice President: Human Resources and Stakeholder Relations.
In recent years business has assumed a more prominent position as a force for social good. It has long transcended its sole focus on profitability, embracing the ethos of shared value creation that extends beyond mere financial gain. Indeed the business landscape has undergone significant transformation, as corporations have emerged as pivotal collaborators in advancing both social and economic progress.
At Sasol, we pride ourselves in being pathfinders, continuously seeking out novel ways to realise sustainable socio-economic benefits for our communities and broader society. Fuelled by our purpose to innovate for a better world, our global teams work tirelessly on programmes that enable us to be a force for social good as we strive to create shared value, alongside our partners, communities and stakeholders.
Our diligent efforts ensure that the programmes we develop and execute continue to deliver meaningful outcomes that mitigate the scourge of youth unemployment, improve access to quality education and reduce poverty, among other pressing societal needs. Our gains from the past year are reflected in the various strategic programmes we spearheaded:
Our STEM Education Excellence programmes are continually improving the quality of education outcomes from early childhood to postgraduate level. During the past year, we benefitted 270 Centres, 964 practitioners and 15 184 children through our Early Childhood Education (ECD) programme.
Our science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programme reached 36 000 learners in Grades 10 to 12 through our first-ever virtual Sasol TechnoX career guidance exhibition. In North America, we supported five school-wide STEM engagements at Partner in Education schools across the region, connecting over 800 students to STEM enrichment activities
In our Bridge to work skills and employability programme, our farmer development programme in South Africa, Iphepe – which means to feed yourself – has successfully trained and mentored 164 people in agricultural skills; livestock; vegetable and poultry production from our fenceline communities in Sasolburg, Secunda and Ekandustria. In Mozambique, 500 beneficiaries were trained in entrepreneurship, with 250 receiving funding for new businesses. In North America, we support the Louisiana Small Business Development Centre which counselled over 500 distinctive clients and 40 industry-related clients on business development
Through our Economic Transformation and Local Content strategy, we made remarkable strides by increasing our development support to by 34% from FY22 baseline in South Africa over the past 12 months. This resulted in the creation of 1 060 new jobs in 2023. In total, 47 SMEs were funded through the Sasol Siyakha Fund with R98 million disbursed in the current financial year compared to only R18 million in 2022. Our funding support resulted in the creation of 859 new jobs and 2 050 sustained jobs with a revenue growth of 18% and an interest rate saving of R9,1 million.
Assisting employees impacted by workforce transition to pursue entrepreneurship opportunities. The Centre for Shared Value Management’s (CSVM) Ntsika – meaning Pillar – an entrepreneur development programme, launched in 2021 to support South African-based employees impacted by restructuring, was concluded in 2022. The programme led to the inception of 25 business start-ups and the creation of 60 jobs, both permanent and temporary. These ventures span 12 different sectors, with professional services featuring strongest, followed by education and agriculture.
Our commitment to elevating community service infrastructure and health care systems resulted in the installation of solar infrastructure solutions in six Metsimaholo community health Centres in the Free State. This was done in an effort to provide uninterrupted health services and to mitigate the adverse impact of load shedding. We also completed the maintenance and improvement of the Komatipoort Clinic and the Cromati Combined School in Mpumalanga. We also completed the construction of the Inhassoro Vocational Training Centre which will assist in increasing the pool of artisan skills in Mozambique. In Qatar, we continue to partner with the Ministry of Social Development and Family to collaborate on the Accessible Qatar initiative including the Definitely Able initiatives to support people with disabilities.
We are extremely proud of our Community Environment programmes which resulted in the planting of 1 350 spekboom trees, 200 indigenous trees and six fruit trees in Leandra, Kinross, Bethal and Charl Cilliers. In North America, we relaunched the 1 000 Trees in 1 000 Days programme and planted over 175 trees within the first two events. To help clean up the environment, our communities collected a massive 120 139 tons of recyclable waste. We also reached over 170 000 people online in Qatar with our educational programme on the Sasol E-Nature and Accessibility Qatar websites.
Our sponsorship for women’s development in sport is now in its 14th year and has yielded positive results with continued growth in the Sasol Women’s League. Thousands of girls show a keen interest in professional sports from a young age which contributes to the talent pool of the national teams. Sasol’s longstanding brand sponsorship role also contributed to Banyana Banyana qualifying for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup as Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Champions where they made history by ending their campaign at the Round of 16.
Through Sasol for Good, our flagship employee volunteering and giving programme, we rallied over 600 employees, including Sasol’s President and CEO and other senior executives, to support our Mandela Day event, where we packed over 121 000 meals which were distributed to Early Childhood Development Centres (ECD) across the country. In North America, we hosted our second annual Community Week event, which is dedicated to benefitting neighbouring communities through company and employee-directed engagements.
Over 600 employees participated in various community events, creating 800 STEM kits for our Partner in Education schools and contributing over US $35 000 through Sasol Gives, an online matching contributions programme for US employees.
Aligned with our rigorous monitoring and evaluation framework, we are assessing all our programmes in South Africa and Mozambique to reaffirm the effectiveness, validity and results of each initiative. This enables us to align our programmes with our business requirements, stakeholder needs and country priorities, and to identify gaps and opportunities to be pursued.
We take pride in the contributions we make through our social impact programmes; however, we recognise the importance of data to ensure we maximise the outcomes for beneficiaries. To this end, our Programme Verification Report (an independent report which is part of monitoring and evaluating our programmes), highlighted that most of our programmes are planned and run effectively, making a positive impact, but there are limited partners who contribute towards their implementation. For this reason, we will be eagerly pursuing partnerships that are in line with our implementation approach
This feedback is important for us as we continue our work, given that business, government, and civil society share a common interest in contributing positively and meaningfully towards improving the lives of society’s most vulnerable groups. Looking forward, partnerships will be a critical lever in our strategy to ensure we amplify the outcomes and impacts of our efforts, because our collective strengths will serve as a powerful force to catalyse change in our host communities across our various geographies. Our dedicated global team and communities stand ready to deliver ongoing shared value, affirming our commitment to remain a force for social good.
