info@businessghana.com
Amidst a tumultuous two years characterized by the outbreak of a global pandemic, South Africa has faced another pandemic of its own in the form of record-high unemployment, particularly amongst the youth. At a rate of 74.8%, the youth unemployment crisis has never required greater intervention. This crisis is one of the poignant issues that leading South African financial services group, Momentum Metropolitan is tackling head on with its approach to corporate social investment (CSI).
“As a company, we deemed it important to take a focused approach to CSI. Past experience taught us that concentrating all our efforts on a single-minded goal; rather than dividing our attention, is the most effective way to make an impact and measure that impact. The Momentum Metropolitan Foundation (MMF) has made substantial strides in addressing the youth unemployment crisis by fostering partnerships with strong social programmes,” explains Nkosinathi Mahlangu, Momentum’s Youth Employment Portfolio Head.
The wellbeing of the South African youth is crucial and closely correlated with the socioeconomic wellbeing of the country. The future political, business and social leaders of South Africa are part of today’s youth. It is therefore crucial that they be equipped with the resources needed to shape the country’s future. This is a mantle that the MMF has taken on since 2017, when it took the decision to recalibrate its strategic focus to that of youth empowerment.
With this streamlined focus, the MMF aims to advance Socio-Economic Development (SED) in South Africa, enhancing the ability of young people to build wealth. Another key component to realising this vision is Consumer Financial Education (CFE), ensuring that young people are equipped to successfully navigate their finances, allowing them to build sustainable wealth.
This consolidation of efforts – a concerted effort by MMF to bring about a united sense of purpose – was a result of a key learning. In 2017, the team behind MMF realised that in the case of CSI, impact is only meaningful if it is measurable.
As Mahlangu explains: “At the beginning of this year, we set specific goals. We knew how many youth we wanted to reach, how many lives we wanted to transform and how we would spend our budget, and we strived collectively towards achieving those goals, keeping a close eye on how we could optimise our resources in terms of time, finance and human influence.”
In 2021, in order to deliver on its goals, MMF dedicated over R14 million to partnering with youth employment initiatives, job placement programmes and facilitating staff volunteerism and special projects. With regard to these pivotal touchpoints, some substantial gains were made amidst a promising but challenging year. These include:
Mahlangu concluded: “When the notion of CSI was introduced, we saw many corporates approaching it as a checkbox exercise. But for us, CSI goes beyond taking a shotgun approach and hoping for the best. Over time, we learnt from others and our own experience that CSI is exactly what its name suggests –the investment we make as employees and stakeholders to serve our immediate communities and more broadly, South African society as a whole. We hope that through our efforts as MMF, we will set an example of how to approach CSI in a way that is sustainable and able to produce long-term results.”
