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September 8, 2021

Insurance firm woos customers with sophisticated service

South African Breweries (SAB) has invested R1-billion since its merger with Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) with a core focus of transforming the South African economy and uplifting society.

Over the past five years, these Public Interest Commitments (PIC) have focused on agricultural development, entrepreneurship, promotion of local manufacturing and sourcing, and contributing to the improvement of society sustainability and educational initiatives. Through the PIC, the company is well on track to achieving the R1-billion investment at the end of 2021.

Through the agricultural development programme, SAB has been able to develop and capacitate over 850 new emerging farmers and increased local barley production by 63% as compared to 2016 output levels within the sector.  In addition to our impact in the agricultural sector, the PIC has assisted youth development and educational initiatives through the provision of over 40 bursaries and 200 learnerships. The company has also created the SAB Thrive Fund helped to establish the first black woman hops farm-owner in George, in the Western Cape. The Thrive Fund facilitates enterprise development and local sourcing programme, ownership transformation of businesses in SAB’s supply chains.  To date, SAB has invested R250 million into the Thrive fund. 

SAB Vice President, Zoleka Lisa says the PIC investment represents the heart of an organisation that has been a part of the South African soul for over 125 years. “We have always believed that corporate investments should represent not only growth, but the change we want to see in the country. By empowering our communities and the small businesses that form part of our value chain, we are proud to play a significant role in helping our economy recover in line with the governments National Development Goals.”

The company has also invested R190 million to uplift communities through the provision of education and mentorship opportunities and through promoting environmental sustainability. Furthermore, through enterprise and supplier development, SAB has continued to implement programmes aimed at transforming, localizing and developing suppliers within its supply chain, supporting enterprise development with a core focus on black women owned and youth enterprises. To this end, R200million has been directed to the Enterprise and Supplier Development pillar. 

As the PIC investment journey is coming to a close, Lisa is confident that the programmes, initiatives and empowerment that this investment sparked will continue to grow the South African economy. “We look forward to what the next five years holds for these programmes. Our commitment to them does not end with the five-year PIC, it was always designed to create a lifetime of impact,” concludes Zoleka.

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