Thursday’s Fifth South African Investment Conference (SAIC) at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, was hailed a success by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The President said that commitments made at the conference changed many lives.
SAIC had sponsors such as the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), Vodacom, Anglo American, ARM, Exxaro, Google, Thungela Resources, Huawei, Samsung, SAB, Discovery, Transnet, and Coca-Cola.
“We have honoured the undertaking we gave the South African people in 2018 that we would attract new investment to our shores, support the growth of local businesses and create more jobs.”
SABC News spoke to South African Breweries (SAB) at the conference about the reasons they were present.
Nombuleleo Skota, who represents SAB at Corporate Affairs, says they are promoting the contribution that the company has made to the economy. Skota says their report commissioned last year shows that one in 66 jobs in their industry is contributed by SAB.
Skota also adds that they also want to push their message of responsibility.
“We are here to promote our two messages which is the contribution that SAB has in the economy and we share the report commissioned by our company last year. Basically, the contribution that SAB has in the economy and one in 66 jobs in our industry is actually contributed by SAB. But over and above that we do want to push the message of responsibility. We are sharing information on our SAB platform called SAB Sharp.”
Isinqumo esakho
SAB has also launched a Zulu radio drama called Isinqumo esakho (It’s your decision) on Ukhozi Fm which is part of the Sharp platform. Itumeleng Mehale, the senior marketing manager at SAB, says this is part of using the traditional form of South African storytelling.
The radio drama, which starts on the 20th of April running over five episodes, is all about responsible drinking and aims to drive the message that your decision can impact the rest of your life.
“The radio drama is part of the Sharp platform. Sharp is all about advocating responsibility. The education and driving awareness of what it means to be responsible.”
One of the partners of the SAIC, IDC, asked other companies to come and communicate and spread what they do such as CIRO a full beverage company under AVI.
Peter Hlogwane a senior trainer at the coffee importers and roasters organisation, CIRO, spoke to SABC News about their Blacksmith, which is their flagship.
Hlogwane says that their flagship, which is a sustainability brand, assists underprivileged communities by upskilling and certifying in coffee making. Previously they had the barista upliftment programme. However, unfortunately due to COVID it was put on hold. They hope to see it revived again.
“Blacksmith is our flagship which is a sustainability brand. We try to bridge the social gap in terms of involving us to uplifting and upskilling other people. At the moment we are busy working with Brave to Love of which they assist the human-trafficked women that were forced into prostitution. So, we are upskilling them with certification with the local and international certificates in coffee.”
