Building strong relationships with community stakeholders is an important aspect of good business practice.
While it is not the core business of organisations today to develop sustainable partnerships in the communities where they operate, it is the ethical responsibility of corporates to respond to local stakeholders, since no company operates within a vacuum.
As the economy gets more unpredictable in the Eastern Cape with local and global challenges, CSI may be the last thing on the mind of a busy corporate organisation. We may even run the risk of treating CSI as a box-tick exercise, perhaps something embarked upon reluctantly once a year because it is “the right thing to do”.
When disasters like the recent devastating floods in the Eastern and Western Cape hit, companies are not immune and may be impacted by these adverse conditions from a logistical and production perspective. When staff members’ homes are flooded, this is when the caring corporate citizen can make a real difference in the lives of their employees and local communities.
In Nelson Mandela Bay, many exporters are responsive not only to local disaster relief efforts, they also meaningfully invest in long-term projects and partnerships that bring about real change in the communities where their employees live. Building partnerships – sometimes even with competitors in the market place – for the greater good of the community brings about more impactful change than what one individual organisation can achieve on its own.
Last year, Exporters Eastern Cape introduced two new categories at the prestigious Exporter of the Year Awards, which for the first time acknowledged exporters for their CSI initiatives in the Eastern Cape.
The Community Chest CSI Award (Small & Medium Companies) is a category for exporters and service providers who have spent up to R1-million on CSI initiatives in one financial year. The Community Chest CSI Award (Large companies) is a category for exporters and service providers who have spent over R1-million on CSI initiatives in one financial year.
In 2025, the former was won by DG Incentives while the latter, the category for large companies, was won by Volkswagen Group Africa and a Merit Award was awarded in the same category to Isuzu Motors South Africa. From building schools to nutrition centres, these exporters understand the true value of practicing CSI – all year round – through long-term partnerships with community stakeholders in the local communities of Nelson Mandela Bay.
Sustained commitment to social development in challenging economic conditions are more important now than ever before.
We invite more corporates to lead by example and enter their CSI projects in the Exporters Eastern Cape Exporter of the Year Awards. It is our sincere hope that exporters continue investing in sustainable CSI initiatives in the region, and that the awards inspire others to do good and bring about a positive change in the Eastern Cape.
If you would like to partner with Exporters Eastern Cape, DG Capital and Community Chest of the Eastern Cape this Mandela Day, please connect with colettep@cchestpe.org.za.
By Quintin Levey, Exporters Eastern Cape Chairman
Published in The Herald, May 2026
