MiX Telematics (JSE: MIX, NYSE: MIXT), believes that as a responsible corporate citizen it needs to play an active role in creating and shaping the future of South Africa. This ethos, which is endorsed by all its employees and partners, encapsulates overarching elements such as good governance, environmental efficiency, and social impact.
Transformation, tangible growth, empowerment, inclusivity, and sustainability in the short and long term are key considerations for initiatives that MiX Telematics implements. The company’s involvement in various initiatives is making a difference in addressing some of the country’s challenges including poverty, unemployment and inequality.
In terms of Skills Development, the company’s focus is directed both internally and externally. MiX Telematics invests in the development of its employees to improve their skills while supporting their career development needs through further studies. This includes enrolling them in various programmes, courses and seminars, including formal qualification studies. Its leadership capacity is enhanced through a management development programme aimed at senior and middle management, which incorporates coaching and personal support. In addition, the company offers learnerships for unemployed youth where learners with Grade 12 and other relevant qualifications gain valuable work experience in the core operations of the business. The flagship Autotronics learnership that MiX Telematics runs has resulted in the employment of most of these learners in the company itself as well as in its channel partner network.
MiX Telematics launched the Ithuba Excelerator Programme in 2022, an enterprise development project to assist young entrepreneurs to establish their own fitment center businesses. The word ‘Excelerator’ blends key concepts such as excellence and accelerator.
“We firmly believe that entrepreneurs and more specifically those in small, medium and micro-enterprises can play a major role in the economic recovery and growth of our country because entrepreneurs often display innovation beyond our imagination and contribute to job creation,” said MiX Telematics Africa MD and Executive Vice President, Gert Pretorius at the programme’s inception.
The first group of entrepreneurs have subsequently been trained, coached and set up in their own businesses. They have all become fully-fledged partners or suppliers to the business. One of the beneficiaries, Tintswalo Khosa, a technically qualified female owner of Tek Fitment Centre says: “Now I can present my business, prepare a business plan, and understand compliance, to mention but a few. The programme has allowed me to grow as a person and learn various aspects of owning and running a business, in addition to broadening my way of thinking and I believe this will help my business to grow.”
In terms of Socio-Economic Development initiatives, the golden thread is assisting organisations that contribute toward alleviating the country’s challenges and support a holistic and integrated view of transformation. MiX Telematics supports initiatives such as Clover Mama Afrika that empower women who are making a major difference in communities across the country by teaching them skills to generate their own income and is delighted that the objective of these women to become self-sustainable is now a reality. These small projects are creating jobs in the local communities which is vital for the preservation thereof.
Social Upliftment Services implement community projects aimed at imparting skills and knowledge which are both practical and underpinned by spiritual growth. This has enabled the company to make a difference in the surrounding communities where it operates. MiX Telematics supports the Partners for Possibility Leadership Development Programme. The aim of the programme, the flagship of the education and leadership non-profit organisation Citizen Leader Lab, is to develop the leadership capacity of school principals in under-resourced and consequently often under-performing South African schools, while providing practical support to improve the functioning of those schools.
As part of this programme, company executives like Kgomotso Bokaba, who heads up Transformation and HR, is directly involved with the coaching and mentoring of a local school principal. As a result of Citizen Leader Lab, educators were able to improve the literacy levels of the Grade 3 learners in the school with the assistance of Missio Dei Foundation, which believes that once children are behind in education it has a snowball effect that hampers them in securing employment which subsequently causes numerous social problems.
“We believe that our involvement in these initiatives will make an impact on the future of this generation and as a company, we are proud to play a role in the transformation and growth of the country,” concludes Pretorius.
