Industrial processing, distribution and services company Barloworld’s Mbewu programme is a prime example of how companies can support social entrepreneurs to grow their social enterprises. Company support sows the seeds that can help social enterprises deliver sustainable, long-term social and environmental impact in society.
Social enterprises are people-centred businesses that set out to solve social challenges and contribute to social inclusion and cohesion. However, they remain chronically underfunded, limiting the resources they have available to deliver sustainable impact to communities. Recognising the latent value in social enterprises, Barloworld is nurturing and growing social enterprise initiatives, reinforcing the company’s commitment to contribute to broader economic and social transformation.
About Barloworld Mbewu
Barloworld Mbewu is the company’s flagship corporate social investment (CSI) programme. It provides tailored support for start-up social enterprises, established social businesses, organisations and institutions that use good business practices to actively solve local challenges.
The programme provides seed funding, access to finance and business incubation to social enterprises over a three-year period. This incubation process provides the training, mentorship and support that allows social entrepreneurs to grow and scale their businesses. Empowering entrepreneurs, particularly women, promotes drives economic sustainability, transformation and growth, while delivering real social impact.
The programme supports up to 30 eligible social enterprises at various stages of development, ideation, startup and operation in each cohort. It focuses support on social enterprises in education, the automotive industry value chain, agro-processing, agriculture, the green economy and the creative arts.
Barloworld Mbewu programme progress
Barloworld Mbewu was launched in 2019. A comprehensive roadshow covering all nine South African provinces attracted over 4 000 initial applicants. These were shortlisted to identify the 29 candidates who made up the programme’s first cohort. Entrepreneurs received financial support to the combined value of R13 million. Non-financial support was provided in the form of enterprise development skills, coaching and mentoring to grow and scale their social enterprises.
Thirteen social enterprises were recruited in 2022. The majority of these were start-ups operating in food security and conservation, emerging farms, agro-processing and waste recycling projects. Barloworld recognised the havoc the pandemic wrought on small enterprises and incorporated a wellness and psychosocial element to the programme that supported enterprise leaders through one-on-one wellness coaching.
The company’s 2023 integrated annual report announced that Barloworld had invested R11 million in social entrepreneur funding and leadership training, as well as substantial non-financial support. Of the programme’s second cohort of social entrepreneurs, eight were in the agriculture and agri-processing sectors, two were in recycling and water conservation, one was in agri-tech and two were in chemistry laboratories.
Who is eligible for Barloworld Mbewu social enterprise support?
- Organisations run by South African citizens.
- Organisations that have been operational for more than one year.
- Preferably organisations that are active in marginalised and previously disadvantaged communities.
- Organisations that are active in education, industrial technology, agro-processing, agriculture, the green economy, or groundbreaking social innovation or technology that addresses local challenges.
The theory of change underpinning Barloworld Mbewu
Inspired by the idea that a business has a responsibility to deliver more than profit, Barloworld is committed to working towards a better life for South Africans.
The Barloworld Mbewu programme is designed to support social enterprises and non-profit organisations (NPOs) that address local challenges. Such initiatives use financial models to scale, sustain and create employment opportunities, in turn enabling social growth and progress.
The programme builds on Barloworld’s established CSI enterprise and supplier development efforts. It helps social enterprises fast track their growth, ensuring that they move from the economic sidelines into the mainstream economy. Barloworld integrates social development investments with an entrepreneurship focus that facilitates more resilient, sustainable communities.
Barloworld’s strategy is deeply rooted in hope and growth. It sees the potential in a country of people who envision solutions to social and economic justice issues for themselves and their communities. Barloworld Mbewu invests in visionaries who are working towards a world where business, profit and social innovation come together to improve society and secure a stable ecosystem for future business.
Social enterprise success stories
The following enterprises represent a small selection of the social enterprises that have benefitted from Barloworld Mbewu.
- Jaxon Tyres was the first mobile tyre fitment centre in the Western Cape. The enterprise supplies quality tyre services, including supply, fitting, balancing and wheel alignment at clients’ home, work or business premises. It services individual clients, fleet companies like Avis Western Cape, and Barloworld Western Cape car dealerships. The company also creates youth employment opportunities.
- Social entrepreneur Lerato Motale started Zekhala Charcoal as a business that would to create much-needed job opportunities in her community where few others existed.
More than 1 000 hectares of farmland in Hogsback, Eastern Cape, had been taken over by black wattle, a water-thirsty invasive alien species that causes significant damage to the ecosystems that it invades. Zekhala clears the plant from the ecosystem and converts it into high-grade charcoal. The wattle is an ideal resource for the enterprise’s charcoal product. The enterprise also serves another purpose in that it offers a valuable environmental service.
- Participation in the Barloworld Mbewu programme helped Lesego Serolong grow her thriving Bee Loved Honey enterprise in Taung, North West province. The funding enabled her to construct a rural honey processing facility that made it possible to expand her business and reach and train more bee farmers. This helped to improve the socio-economic outlook of rural communities in the area at scale. In her mission to create change, Serolong has built and distributed over 600 beehives to unemployed young rural South Africans. Barloworld Mbewu made it possible for her to increase enterprise development and facilitate market access. This has enabled the integration of young farmers into agricultural value chains and agro-food markets with a direct offtake and profit-sharing agreement.
- NPO Triple P aims to transform communities and improve public and environmental health through holistic waste management solutions. The organisation creates partnerships with people to develop green skills opportunities, creating sustainable livelihoods and a healthier planet. Their skills include waste management, aquatic management, drinking water solutions and school ecological education.
- Nelson Ngcobo Holdings started out by manufacturing energy drinks from beneficial indigenous plants that also promote gut health. Their offering is a healthy alternative to the products that are currently on the market. The enterprise has grown to produce a range of plant-based products that promote South Africa’s rich plant biodiversity. It contributes to unemployment and poverty alleviation by including rural small-scale farmers in its production of niche market products.
Read more about how Barloworld Mbewu provides tailored support to social enterprise start-ups, established social businesses, organisations and institutions.
