Our corporate social investment programme supports sustainable initiatives that aim to achieve maximum impact over the long term. In addition to financial support, Coronation employees invest their time and expertise in our communities. Our core focus is improving the quality of education, which lies at the heart of breaking the cycle of poverty in South Africa. With learners at the centre, our Capsule programme is designed to include educators, principals, parents and the broader community, while our legacy projects promote and support secondary and tertiary education, and skills development.
Our CSI Values
- We are in it for the long term
- We take a holistic approach
- We are active participants
- We monitor the outcomes of our programmes
Empowering Individuals
We are active participants in our corporate social investment programmes. Passionate about making a positive impact, we roll up our sleeves and get to work.
Watch us in actionTHE CAPSULE PROGRAMME
At Coronation, we support a number of projects that aim to empower South African's to thrive and provide for their families. By equipping people, schools and communities with the skills and knowledge they need to build sustainable and dignified futures, significant strides can be made to alleviate poverty and prepare our youth to be successful, creative and productive.
The Early Learning Resource Unit (ELRU) is a programme that creates circles of support around a child starting at conception, continuing throughout the pregnancy and into the child’s early years. The purpose of the ELRU is to ensure that children of a preschool age are school-ready and prepared for a classroom environment. This involves capacity building with primary caregivers and educators, as well as providing children with access to early learning facilities.
Our three primary school programmes aim to promote numeracy, literacy and life skills.
Counting with Coronation, managed by the Primary Science Programme, is a two-year training programme that provides intensive mathematics training to primary school teachers. Workshops focus on practical teaching; how to monitor and assess children’s learning of mathematics; how to use resources effectively to promote learning; and how to implement appropriate interventions to support struggling learners. Mathematics resource kits help teachers to engage entire classes of learners in practical mathematics learning.
Coronation's Reading Adventure Rooms teaches educators to improve literacy levels in primary schools through practical training, tools, educational material and mentorship. To make reading fun for the kids, classrooms are transformed with painted murals to create a fun, adventure-themed learning environment. Holiday interventions provide struggling learners with additional support and attention to ensure they are able to keep up with the standards of the curriculum.
The Schools Garden Programme ensures that learners have access to adequate nutrition while developing practical life skills. By encouraging children to take an interest in the environment and agriculture, the programme teaches them how to grow their own produce. Managed by the South African Institute for Entrepreneurship, educators and caretakers are also equipped to support the learners to maintain school gardens. These gardens deliver produce to school nutrition programmes and feeding schemes. The programme also teaches children to be financially astute as the some of the produce is also sold to the local communities.
Capsule also focuses on educating the educators – a profession that is notoriously under-resourced and underpaid in South Africa. We offer bursaries and skills development opportunities to students and school principals. By focusing on improving school leadership and teaching quality, we aim to transform public schools serving socioeconomically disadvantaged communities into centres of excellence.
The Future Leaders Programme, run by the Global Teachers Initiative, aims to address the severe shortage of qualified teachers in South Africa by providing bursaries to students studying towards a Bachelor of Education through Unisa. In addition to a degree, the programme includes practical classroom training, dedicated mentoring and specialised tuition.
The Principals Academy is a three-year programme run by the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business (GSB-UCT) that partners retired school principals with school principals in underprivileged areas to provide coaching and mentoring on a weekly basis. These sessions are geared to share experiences, build confidence and explore different strategies to address the highly complex problems schools face in disadvantaged communities. The principals also attend a 15-day self-mastery and systems thinking programme run by GSB-UCT. By focusing on improving school leadership and teaching quality, this initiative aims to turn public schools serving socioeconomically disadvantaged communities into centres of excellence.
We offer adult life skills training and financial education to help equip men and women with parenting skills and to foster a better culture of saving in South Africa.
Consumer financial education delivers meaningful financial education to adults with th goal of empowering them with financial skills and knowledge so that they can make better financial decisions and improve their lives. This community-focused programme offers a bespoke series of modules and targets economically active individuals in impoverished communities who are aged 16 and above.
Parent workshops are run across our Capsule schools by the Community Action Partnership, and aim to practically guide parents to develop relationships that enable them to positively influence learners’ education choices. Weekly workshops held over weekends educate parents as to how to support their children in school and to develop social skills, and to establish the importance of teacher-parent collaboration. Training on basic budgeting, investing and saving practices is also presented.
Our Growing Entrepreneurs Programme provides training for emerging farmers across South Africa. Topics include good governance, financial management, the practical and legal aspects of farm operations, and recordkeeping, with the aim of commercialising their efforts to support a sustainable business. Run in collaboration with the South African Institute for Entrepreneurship, this initiative has positively impacted rural and peri-urban communities through economic development, job creation and poverty alleviation, especially among small-scale agricultural farmers.
OUR LEGACY PROJECTS
Our CSI journey started more than 25-years ago when we first opened our doors, long before we launched our current high-impact Capsule programme. Coronation employees regularly volunteer their time on various projects - from reading to children to mentoring educators and refurbishing facilities, people from across our business roll up their sleeves to contribute their time and expertise.
Our Bursary Programme rewards underprivileged students for exceptional academic achievement with full bursaries to study towards Business Science, Accounting, Finance, Business Economics and Economics degrees at select South African universities, including Stellenbosch University, the University of the Free State, Nelson Mandela University and the University of Cape Town. Students are supported by trained tutors, matched with a Coronation mentor, and offered work experience opportunities at Coronation. Subject to performance, students are also provided with a one-year employment contract upon completion of their studies. The programme also provides scholarships to high school students through the South African Innovation Learning Intervention.
The Young Investor Programme (YIP) is run by the University of the Western Cape and provides students studying commerce, investment and economics with the opportunity to put their theoretical investment knowledge to practical use. The students participate in investment exercises and workshops and are given the opportunity to interact with industry professionals. The programme aims to bridge the gap between the theoretical knowledge obtained at university and practical work requirements, preparing budding asset managers and financial professionals for the realities of the work place.
We are a sponsor and funder of the Association for Savings and Investment SA’s (ASISA's) development programme for independent financial advisers (IFAs). The aim is to provide business development support to independent black financial advisers by equipping them with practical management skills and knowledge. In addition, since 2006, we have been allocating a minimum of 10% of our annual South African equity brokerage to a group of small black stockbrokers. This has helped to create sustainable businesses and has contributed to meaningful transformation in the financial services industry.
Partners for Possibility connects principals from under-resourced schools with business leaders. The success of the internationally recognised leadership development initiative lies in a year-long collaborative journey that the partners embark on to improve the quality of education offered at the school. The programme provides the business leaders with mentorship training and the opportunity to transfer their leadership skills and business acumen to educators. Schools that have participated in the programme have seen an increase in teacher motivation and engagement, creating long-term benefits for the schools and learners.