Sustainability

Executive Summary

The sustainability and resilience of ADvTECH is driven fundamentally by the long-term nature of the business, the enduring worth to society of the Group’s operations, the commitment of its workforce and the annuity nature of much of its revenue. The Group’s stakeholders are also an integral part of our success story. These stakeholders include, but are not limited to, our investors, customers, employees, suppliers, business partners, policymakers, NGOs and host communities. The Group’s sustainability is further supported by the strength of its financial structure, which provides the capacity to deal with challenges and opportunities as they arise. It is therefore vital that we continue to implement carefully considered and responsible decisions that will have a positive impact well into the future.

By delivering educational solutions to the communities served by the Group, ADvTECH makes a positive contribution, economically, socially and environmentally. Forming solid partnerships within the communities is vital for the formation of a robust, yet harmonious society.

The Group’s continuing commitment to providing services that are of social and economic benefit, helps to address the current education crisis and skills shortage in the country and enables ADvTECH to contribute to developing South Africa’s human capital. The value of the Group’s contribution to society, particularly with regard to significant corporate social investment in sustainable education projects, ensured the inclusion of its corporate citizenship in the JSE Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) index for the seventh consecutive year in 2012.

Sustainability in business development is the fundamental responsibility of the ADvTECH Board, supported by specialist structures including:

  • The Transformation, Social and Ethics Committee, whose mandate is to guide and monitor the progress of the Group in transformation, social and ethical matters;
  • The Corporate Social Investment (CSI) forum, which oversees long-term sustainable projects and the impact of our contributions to the development of our communities; and
  • The Human Resources, HIV/Aids, Employment Equity, Environment, Skills Development, Investors-in- People and the Occupational Health and Safety (HESIO) Committee, which oversees programmes in these areas.
  • The majority of HESIO Committee members are elected representatives of staff and first-line human resources managers from the Group’s operations.