Strategic Partnerships
Our objective is to deliver solutions that purposefully drive social impact. Foster, embed and strengthen our collaboration networks of social justice and social cohesion partners.
Focus Areas:
- Youth upskilling, career pathing, job skills training and mentorship.
- Sustainable Food/Agripreneurship
- ECD, Foundation phase literacy & numeracy & leadership
- Consumer education.
We achieve our Socio-Economic Development objectives through a deliberate partnership approach, promoting social legitimacy and shared value. Take a look at our partners listed here.
Old Mutual Insure is proud to announce our exciting two-year Empowering Girls Programme which was launched on 17 February 2022. We carefully selected 20 young ladies in Grade 11 who will benefit from this special programme.
The Programme will support their professional and personal advancement, through relevant life skills, ICT literacy, mentorship, and job-shadowing initiatives.
In this ground-breaking initiative Old Mutual Insure has partnered with Tranquil and Tenacious Mind, Afrika Tikkun and Ikusasa Technologies. These organisations will enrich the learners with life skills, ICT skills, mentoring and job shadowing over a period of 3 years.
In a world where gender-based violence and femicide is widespread, it is up to us to help build a safe and prosperous South Africa by grooming our boys into the gentlemen they were born to be. Our partnership with Father a Nation is an exciting one in that it offers us as an organisation the opportunity not only to get our employees on board but to also impact different communities in the hope of leaving a lasting impact in the fight against gender-based violence.
Old Mutual Insure together with Father A Nation held the first insightful webinar on Friday, 22 October 2021 which unpacked the crucial role men play in society.
Other key topics of discussion will include:
- The state of masculinity today.
- Understanding masculine behaviour – what makes men tick.
- The journey from a boy to a man – three key factors in raising honourable men.
- The six virtues of positive, healthy masculinity.
During the month of March 2022 Old Mutual Insure, together with Father A Nation, will visit 3 FET colleges in Welkom, Ekurhuleni and Sebokeng where the focus will be on equipping and inspiring young men to be good men who use their strength to love, serve and protect and be active in the fight against gender-based violence.
In partnership with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund (NMCF) we have delivered MiDesks to 400 children in rural areas in the North West and Eastern Cape provinces with the first handover taking place on World Literacy Day.
MiDesk is a proudly South African innovation, providing children who attend schools that don’t have desks, with their own desk that they can wheel from home to school and back. The portable desk and chair come with a solar light and USB charging portal and can last for the 12-year duration of a schooling career.
The wide-eyed wonder as the MiDesk was demonstrated at each school was heartening and the solar-powered lamp was a definite hit! It was encouraging to see the immediate impact as the children started using and benefitting from the desks the very next day after delivery.
In Good Company is a timeless book featuring 32 South African greats – their stories being told in the form of over 100 art pieces inspiring hope, strength, and courage. Old Mutual Insure partnered with Reach for a Dream Foundation to ensure that the proceeds of the book sales would go towards building a Dream Room at the Lambano Sanctuary, a children’s hospice in Gauteng.
This Dream Room, designed with input from musician and artist, J’ Something, will be a space for the children and parents facing the toughest of times to use to play, relax, and experience some enjoyment.
Ubuntu Pathways
Children in many schools in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape face an under-resourced, overcrowded education system. Sadly, it has been estimated that many gain only half a year’s curriculum for each year they are in school, and thus they fall behind one grade level every two years. As a result, almost 40% do not graduate from high school. Due to their subsequent lack of skills, the vast majority of Gqeberha’s youth face financial instability, with unemployment rates as high as 80% in townships.
Fortunately, between 2019 and 2021, the Ubuntu Pathways Job Skills Training (JST) programme prepared hundreds of young people for the workforce through professional workshops and workplace-specific vocational training. The JST programme specifically targets out-of-school youth aged 18 to 25 in the townships of Gqeberha. This was made possible through our long-standing partnership with Ubuntu Pathways in the form of an annual grant of R1 million.
In addition, Ubuntu Pathways continues to cultivate their employment pipeline and place most of the youth in their programme in rewarding employment opportunities.
Following placement, Ubuntu Pathways also offer a spectrum of wraparound support, including health and counselling services as well as access to a supportive alumni community. With a partnership that dates back over 20 years, we aim to set a new global standard for vocational training in disadvantaged communities.
Consumer education is one of the most important pillars of our business which is why Old Mutual Insure has contributed of R1.2 million towards it.
This contribution will not only go towards consumer education, but it will assist in developing the On the Money App to enable digital training, automated registers, monitoring and evaluations.
_(1).webp "OML on the Money")
We partnered Malaika textiles who manufacture reusable sanitary towels. Period poverty refers to the lack of access to sanitary products and hygiene facilities to manage menstruation. Research conducted by Stellenbosch University shows that approximately 30% of girls in South Africa do not attend school while menstruating because they cannot afford sanitary products. Access to sanitary towels is critical because having a period without sanitary towels while at school does have a negative impact on girls – including absenteeism, lower literacy levels and lack of access to social and economic development opportunities.
Old Mutual Insure purchased 630 reusable sanitary pads from the factory.
_(2).webp "Malaika Textiles")
We partnered with the South African Mathematics Foundation in their initiative names The My Maths Buddy One Book One Learner project, which focuses on bridging that gap and bringing about a significant change in Maths results in the country which will in turn will contribute to an upliftment of the economy.
On the 19th of January the One Book One Learner Project delivered three Learner Workshops and an Effective Maths teaching Seminar to Vulanindlela Secondary School in Orange Farm for nine maths teachers and 136 Grade 9 learners.
As a responsible business, Old Mutual Insure has a key focus on Education and in particular Mathematics. A good understanding of Maths is the key for learners to access opportunities for bursaries, scholarships and learnerships in a wider range of careers.
The most important part of this partnership is to see an improvement in Maths results because of this project with teachers and learners at Vulindlela Secondary School.
Included in the sponsorship were copies of the My Maths Buddy maths dictionary for the learners and Teacher Kits for teachers. Teacher Kits contain the My Maths Buddy, a teacher Manual on handling maths language, workbook, and various other resources for excellence in maths education.
Learners are taught how to use the My Maths Buddy and are trained on the recognition of misunderstanding with solutions to resolve it.
The teachers attended their own seminar and received their Teacher Kits. These Kits, together with the learning methodology given at the seminar will assist them with teaching Maths effectively.
Old Mutual Insure has made a contribution towards the ASISA Foundation Saver Waya Waya L+EARN programme targeted at young adults to equip them with relevant and impactful financial knowledge and skills that will enable them to be more financially capable, improve their awareness of financial concepts and to encourage good financial behaviour.
In partnership with The Knowledge Trust, OM Insure sponsored four learnerships for study in Fintech and Digital Disruption which will enable these learners to get future-fit skills.
We are excited that all four learners will be hosted within the Old Mutual Group and recruitment exercise has commenced.
We kicked off 2022 by handing out school shoes drive which saw children receiving much needed aid towards their school life.
These organisations have helped us reach over 1 500 children in different communities who needed school shoes.