​Women's Volunteer Programme

Airports Company South Africa's Women's Volunteer Programme is a Corporate Social Investment initiative that allows employees to play a significant role in making a positive contribution towards the development of our communities. Employees are the custodians of our brand promise: 'moving people, changing lives'. Through this programme the volunteers are empowered to make a positive difference at special schools around our airports that provide education for learners with disabilities.

The programme was launched in 2009 and encourages women employees to identify special needs schools that require assistance with improving the lives of the pupils. The project is currently active for O.R. Tambo International Airport, Corporate and Cape Town International Airport employees.

The volunteers introduce the Airports Company South Africa Schools Funding Competition to the schools detailing the funding opportunities available to both the school and the learners. They also assist the learners and schools with funding proposals towards their school or personal needs. The needs may be as simple as stationery, to the painting of the railings around the school grounds.

Volunteers then meet to adjudicate on the merits of the proposals and letters of appeal.  On the completion of the adjudication process the winners of the funding are announced with the presentation of the cheque to the winning school as well as the winning pupils.

The project is undertaken in partnership with the Association of People with Disability (APD), which provides project management services to Airports Company South Africa for the duration of the project, including direct interaction with the volunteers and the schools involved. 

Mandela Day initiatives 

Environment 

Responsibility for the effect that we have as individuals and organisations on the environment in which we live and operate has become far more accepted in the past few years. King III and the Global Reporting Initiative have provided clear guidelines for reporting obligations and these, in turn, have had a considerable influence on attitudes towards the environment.

Airports Company South Africa owns nine substantial properties across South Africa and the organisation is meticulous in striving for compliance with regulations and legislation. However, the company takes its responsibilities far beyond compliance by including wide-ranging programmes, within the corporate social investment sphere, to support environmental initiatives.

This has been achieved by developing strategic partnerships that support key community environmental projects in airport precincts and areas surrounding them. Some important national environmental projects are also supported. 

The Wildlands Conservation Trust Partnership

The Trust has developed initiatives based on the Community Ecosystem Based Adaptation framework, which was developed in partnership with the government. The framework is based on the restoration and care of the ecosystems that underwrite the welfare and livelihood of communities and achieves this by creating 'green jobs' for unemployed members of communities.

The partnership between the Trust and Airports Company South Africa is focused on an initiative centred on the Tongaat River catchment, within which lies the majority of the footprint of King Shaka International Airport.

The project is to support and manage the sustainable development of the Hambanathi and Ndwedwe communities, both of which are poor communities with urban and rural components. It supports the restoration of the Hambanathi and Tongaat Rivers, with emphasis on the ecosystems that underwrite the welfare of these target communities.

A ten-person restoration team has been formed, consisting of previously unemployed community members aged between 18 and 35. They are responsible for alien plant clearing, restoration activities and river clean-up. An experienced community facilitator has been employed to manage the activities of the team under the guidance of the Wildlands Conservation Trust.

Skills training includes the control of alien invasive plants, propagation and planting of indigenous trees, ecosystem restoration, financial literacy and urban agriculture.

The project also includes the support of the existing 140 Ndwedwe community members, all drawn from the unemployed and marginalised sectors of the community, who grow indigenous trees from seed. The seedlings are bartered for food, building materials, water tanks and educational support. Home-based vegetable growing is also encouraged as a means of supplementing their diet and generating income through the sale of excess vegetables.

Over a three-year period, the initiative has the objective of clearing 50 hectares of Tongaat River catchment, benefiting local biodiversity and increasing the supply of available water. The target for tree growing and their subsequent use for bartering is 30 000, with a further 20 000 to be planted. The benefits from tree planting are substantial and include carbon sequestration, riverbank stabilisation and temperature regulation.

Other benefits of the project, implemented in 2012, are the generation of approximately 3 000 paid, person working days (eight hours) and the education, skills training and experience gained for community members. This will equip those involved with the ability to start their own businesses. 

The BirdLife South Africa Partnership

BirdLife South Africa is the leading bird conservation non-governmental organisation (NGO) in South Africa and has the vision of promoting the conservation, research and understanding of birds and their habitats. It is the South African Partner of BirdLife International (based in England), which has 117 partners around the world and is the world's largest conservation alliance, with more than 2,5 million members.

South Africa has 844 bird species, of which 65 species only occur in South Africa and are classified as 'endemic' resulting in one of the world's highest levels of endemism. Of our 844 species, 125 (15 percent) are listed in the Eskom Red Data Book of Birds and fall within four categories of threat, the highest being 'Critically Endangered'.

In response to the rapidly increasing threat of bird extinctions, Airports Company South Africa has taken up the challenge by becoming a 'Species Champion'. This is a donor role in the global BirdLife International Preventing Extinctions Programme, which is managed locally by BirdLife South Africa.

The bird that will benefit from this support is the threatened Secretarybird, so named because the feathers on the bird's head resemble the Victorian secretaries (mostly men) as they traditionally carried their quill pens sticking out behind their wigs.

This raptor (bird of prey) is showing a serious decline in numbers across its range in South Africa, particularly over the last decade, with the most pronounced and drastic disappearance in the Grassland biome. The Secretarybird is threatened by a number of factors throughout its range, including habitat fragmentation and degradation through agricultural and commercial forestry development. Other threats are the illegal use of poison, availability of prey and collisions with power lines.

BirdLife South Africa is undertaking a scientific project in the grasslands to aid in the conservation of the Secretarybird. Sophisticated, satellite-linked (GSM) tracking devices are attached to birds to gain valuable information about their lives: where they go, where they sleep, where they feed, where they breed, where they die and whether they use public or private land. Analysis of data collected over a three to five year period will provide invaluable information in the design and implementation of conservation measures to prevent further decline in the numbers of this iconic bird. So far, two young birds have had tracking devices attached to them, with a probable further eight devices to be attached over the duration of the programme.

It is only through support from concerned corporates that essential research and conservation programmes can be undertaken to manage and reduce the threats faced by South Africa's flora and fauna. 

WWF–South Africa

South Africa is a national office that is part of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) network. WWF-SA works to inspire and empower all South Africans, from schoolchildren and local community leaders to consumers and CEOs, to value, respect and defend the integrity of the natural ecosystems that underpin the sustainable development of our country.

Some of the organisation's specific goals include the conservation of South Africa's biodiversity assets, playing an important role in addressing climate change and improving the livelihoods of communities dependent on natural resources through better environmental practices. Also included are instilling a culture of environmental responsibility in business and industry, and advocating for government policies to incorporate sound environmental principles.

As a means of demonstrating its belief in environmental responsibility, Airports Company South Africa supports WW-SA's Land and Stewardship Programme. The work of this programme aims to produce a network of land parcels, protected from adverse human impacts, providing opportunities to explore sustainable land use practices and innovative land transactions.

The programme has a biodiversity conservation focus, which includes the protection of endangered ecosystems, as well as identifying areas of high water yield critical to the water security of an already water scarce country. These are usually areas with high value in terms of ecosystem services provisioning, and aesthetic, cultural and economic outputs. In addition, they provide important climate change adaptation resilient corridors for a multifunctional landscape.

The efforts of the Land and Stewardship Programme are focused on two important biodiversity 'hotspots', which are areas of exceptional conservation importance. A biodiversity hotspot can be defined as an area of high biodiversity, high levels of endemism (species that occur uniquely in that area or only in South Africa) and high levels of threat.

These two areas have been identified as the Fynbos and Succulent Karoo in the south, and the Grassland biome in the northeast. The stewardship aspect of the programme works with landowners through varying degrees of legal commitment, resulting in benefits to the landowner. These agreements can result in the land becoming a conservation area, being managed through a binding biodiversity agreement or being declared as a nature reserve.

More than thirty national parks and nature reserves have benefited from the donation of additional land through the Land and Stewardship Programme. To date, 400 000 hectares of land have been purchased and 70 000 hectares secured under some form of stewardship agreement. 

Job Creation and Skills Development

The barriers to economic opportunity are many and varied, and are compounded by skills shortages, lack of support for small enterprises, as well as limited access to financial resources.

Airports Company South Africa provides sustainable support to, and facilitation of business enterprises both within and outside of its operating environment. Job creation and skills development are the key outputs required from small enterprises receiving the company's assistance. 

Hihlurile – We have Overcome

Providing employment in Giyani, a very poor region lying in the northeast of Limpopo Province, has long been a passion for Mrs Sarah Masunga. She has explored many different projects, including brick making, candles, silk screening and even fence manufacturing, but Sarah has always looked for something new and innovative.

In 2006 Sarah went to Japan to investigate the possibility of bead manufacturing and, when there, she was offered training in bead making. Together with three other women, Sarah underwent training in Japan in 2008 for making handmade and artistic beads.

As Sarah became more familiar with the bead industry she realised that there was tremendous potential for manufacturing in Giyani and she approached Airports Company South Africa for its support. It was agreed to purchase equipment and raw materials from India, and this was delivered in 2010.

Bead making consists of multiple steps and takes from three to four years to perfect the processes. Manufacture in Giyani has been hampered by electrical supply problems, but production is now well under way.

At the moment the venture employs nine women and four men, and these numbers will grow as the marketing of beads and bead-related products develops. The potential within South Africa is considerable and other markets within Africa are being explored. Specialised, event-related, bead products have enormous promise and may include the design and manufacture of beads for a specific event. An example is a bracelet made from beads with the colours of the Brazilian flag, specifically for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Together with support from Airports Company South Africa, the vision and determination of one woman has created employment opportunities, with considerable growth potential, in one of the poorest regions of South Africa. 

Made in S.A.

South Africa is in the enviable position of having access to a wide range of fine and innovative crafting skills embedded in the rich traditions of its varied cultures. Recognising the inherent job creation and enterprise development potential in this sector, Airports Company South Africa, together with its crafting retail partner, Tourvest, developed what must be considered one of the best approaches to sustainable crafting enterprise development in the country.

Following the great success of the 'Out of Africa' outlets in International Departures, and considering the potential for a further crafting retail outlet on the landside at O.R. Tambo International, Airports Company South Africa and Tourvest developed 'Made in S.A'. Housed in an innovative and uniquely South African retail environment, this outlet provides prime retail space to enterprise development candidates within the South African crafting industry. The retail model is innovative, ensuring sustainability and dynamism; the principles are simple:

• Only locally produced items are sold

• Candidates who have not yet supplied Airports Company South Africa's other retail outlets are given preference, thereby allowing new entrants into this exciting market space

• Enterprise development candidates are provided with preferential treatment in terms of both product selection, development strategy, market advice and payment terms

• Sustainability is encouraged by ensuring that products carry fair retail margins, i.e. if they sell well they should be able to be sold through other retail outlets

• Sustainability is further assisted in that if items sell well, they are extended to a wide number of Tourvest's other retail outlets

• Dynamism is ensured by closely monitoring performance of the ranges and weeding out poor performers, thereby making space for new entrants.

• The incubation aspect of this business poses a risk to the commercial feasibility of the project; this risk was reduced with a slightly lower rental model and cross subsidisation provided by an agreed level of commercially proven merchandise.

Currently, this outlet provides prime retail space to 53 enterprise development businesses. 

Scratch Mobile

The Managing Director of Scratch Mobile, Ntuthuko Shezi, graduated from the University of Cape Town in 2001 with a BSc in Engineering (Electro-Mechanical). The next five years were spent as a management consultant at Accenture, after which Ntuthuko's entrepreneurial nature took over and he started Scratch Mobile in 2006.

The business started with a mobile unit going to the customer to repair scratches and dents. Ntuthuko soon realised that he needed a workshop with a difference and approached Airports Company South Africa for a location at O.R. Tambo International Airport. Negotiations resulted in a lease for a small workshop in the basement under the Engen Skystop Garage at a preferential rental, in line with enterprise development objectives.

The business has grown steadily and the customer base has expanded to include three of the airport car rental companies and two other vehicle fleets. Scratch Mobile offers a unique service to air travellers in that they are able to leave their car for repairs when they fly and collect on their return. Depending on the nature of the work to be done, turnaround can be on the same day. The quickest job was to fix a scratch in just 51 minutes!

Customers want their cars fixed by a specific time and no excuses are accepted.

As the business has grown, additional space has been rented and the work force has increased to 18 employees. In six years, about 11 000 vehicles have been repaired and the daily average now stands at ten.

He is not, however, content to remain static and intends to optimise the workshop space and equipment by extending to a 24-hour working day by the end of 2013. Additional mobile units will be added to take advantage of the convenience factor for repairs at people's homes or businesses. In addition, Ntuthuko is examining the possibility of joint venture businesses at King Shaka and Cape Town International Airports. 

Beads mean Business

A chance encounter in 2009 between Shepherd Ngwenya, selling beadwork on the pavement in George, and Ann Fernandez from George Airport was the start of a wonderful journey. Ann was looking for suitable containers for gifts and, as it was World Cup time, she commissioned Shepherd to make 60 bead soccer balls.

Following this success, Shepherd commented that he really did not have a suitable place to market his products and it was decided to let him sell from the pavement at the airport. He started there in November 2009 and became a familiar sight for airport users. However, weather conditions did not make it an ideal position.

As a means of encouraging enterprise development, and recognising the limiting effect of bad weather, Shepherd was offered a kiosk inside the terminal building and has occupied it since September 2010. Formal business practices, such as registering 'Image of Wire', have been followed.

Shepherd's beadwork is eye-catching, capturing the imagination of international visitors through its ability to showcase African art and be truly representative of South Africa. The business has continued to flourish and imaginative marketing is demonstrated by the fact that the business accepts cash, credit cards and foreign exchange!

The success of the business led Shepherd to being offered a kiosk at Port Elizabeth International from November 2011 and one at Kimberley Airport from March 2012. He now employs two people manufacturing beadwork and two at each of his outlets: a total of eight. All thanks to George Airport management's foresight in recognising the opportunity for providing an entrepreneur to develop a business.

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