As we sail on through the interesting month of August, we cannot be more excited to share with you our Leading Women in CSI, a publication in which we honour some of the remarkable women leading CSI in South Africa today. The project was born of our Women in CSI Summit, for which we partner with Old Mutual Foundation.
We’re living through disturbing and in many ways distressing times, punctuated by events that should shake and challenge us all, not only those of us who work in corporate social investment. I believe these events – the recent looting, outbreaks of xenophobia, the inequalities and suffering revealed by Covid-19, to name only a few – call for women’s voices to be heard.
We know that women are disproportionately affected by unemployment as a result of Covid-19, and, according to the Gauteng health department, bear the brunt of infections – partly because more women than men work in frontline health and service industry jobs. More women than men are getting tested, too – provincial data shows that 53% of tests so far have been conducted on women, 47% on men. Women have unique contributions to make to the national conversation on health and inequality, and we’re delighted to say that our Leading Women of CSI speak out on a range of issues fearlessly and with great insight.
On other matters …
Over the last month we’ve partnered with various organisations, including a mentorship movement run by David Wilson. He is passionate about nurturing a new group of leaders and positively contributing to the economic emancipation of our country. We need all the great leaders we can get.
I’m pretty sure you’ve all heard of Aranda Textile – or if you haven’t, you’ve snuggled under one of their gorgeous and comforting blankets. We sincerely thank Gary Hunter, CEO of Aranda Textile, for partnering with us in a unique and generous way – find out how in a forthcoming newsletter.
Finally, we thrive on hearing the good news of others. What I lift I get when I hear that someone who attended one of our webinars or conferences, or was featured on our website, made a match that resulted in funding for a worthy programme. Three weeks ago an NGO communications manager phoned me to say thank you. That’s a rarity in itself, one that I so appreciate. It seems that the story we did last month on the NGO resulted in a funder coming forward with over R1 million in funding for the next year. This is priceless – it’s why we do what we do.
Lastly, we’ve had some great webinars lately, featuring CSI managers who share their funding parameters with an ever-growing group of attendees. Recently we’ve partnered with The Development Bank of SA, Nedbank, African Bank, Capitec Bank and others, and we’re due to feature Investec later this month.
All in all, though times are hard, we’re active, engaged and energised, largely by the goodwill of the people we work with. And that is you. May your month ahead be fruitful and rewarding, and may we never stop working for real change and upliftment in South Africa.
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