Gift of the Givers founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman lauded a change in attitude from business leaders and their organisations to social impact investing and philanthropic efforts. 

Speaking on the second day of the Trialogue Business in Society Conference 2024 on 15 May, Sooliman highlighted the events that sparked a change in how corporates approached social giving, including the devastating Knysna fires of 2016 and the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said that many leaders were “selfless” in their response to the disaster in Knysna.

“There were further examples of selfless assistance when some of the wealthy businessmen in the area – some of whom had lost their homes – said: “Our houses have burnt, but we have other houses, it’s not a problem, just tell us what to do.” These were managing directors, chief executives- but yet they didn’t say, “I’m so clever, I’ve got an MBA,” “I’m a chartered accountant.” All they said was, “Tell us what to do.” The people who directed them were two women who didn’t even have university degrees, and yet those people followed instructions to show what South Africans can do together.”

Delivering the closing keynote under the theme “The role of companies in repairing the social fabric”, Sooliman said that for a long time “South African corporates were only interested in ticking CSI boxes, getting a tax certificate and some positive media coverage for their projects”.

“The projects weren’t very effective; there was no social impact. They were there to tick the register. But something changed in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out.”

The humanitarian said that the mindset shift has endured well beyond the pandemic.

“The mindsets in corporate South Africa changed, not necessarily the CSI, but the chief executives and the managing directors of companies started calling. They said, “Forget the media coverage, don’t worry about tax certificates, just tell us what you need and how much you need; we need to save our people and we need to save our country.” That sentiment has been running for four years now.”

Citing the work Gift of the Givers rolled out during the COVID-19 pandemic – which included supporting 210 hospitals, installing around 5,000 oxygen machines and drilling boreholes – Sooliman said that the scale of their efforts would not have been possible without the support of local companies.

“When you have that kind of support, when you have that kind of humanity, we can’t fail as a country. We need that spirituality, we need that compassion and we need that care. Yes, make money; I’m not saying don’t make money, make much money, but in making the money, understand that there are those who don’t have. We have a teaching that says: “what you don’t spend is not yours”,” Sooliman told the audience.

He cited new challenges, including an excessively long list of awaiting surgeries and a shortage of psychologists and registrars amidst an increasing mental health crisis.

To highlight the long wait patients face for relatively simple surgeries, Sooliman told the touching story of a married couple who hadn’t seen each other for eight years as they had each developed cataracts.

“For eight years the husband and wife could not see each other – love, life, romance, happiness gone for eight years. And how long does cataract surgery take – eight minutes! They waited eight years for something that takes eight minutes.”

There is hope for South Africa

But Sooliman remains upbeat about the country’s prospects, saying there is “nothing to worry about”.

“People are very worried about the country – concerns about a failed state, where are we going? But I believe there’s absolutely nothing to worry about. What’s important is for us to remove the labels, to remove the branding and to look at each other as human beings; not to look at each other as government, political party, corporate, NGO sector, public sector, religious sector.”

Sooliman ended his address with an impassioned plea for business leaders to join hands with the public sector to build South Africa.

“I urge corporates to join us in building South Africa together; government can’t do it alone. The taxes of 7.4 million people can’t look after 65 million people, it’s impossible. We have to add the difference as corporates and individuals; let’s do it together because we could have been on the other side.”