As a global consumer internet group, we champion the benefits of widespread digital access, including improved financial inclusion, access to economic opportunity, and social and educational benefits. The social impact programs provide both practical and investment to a wide range of actors working towards building more inclusive communities.
Our social impact programs have one common goal: to improve the lives of individual people. We assess impact through the lens of inclusive development that rests on our three pillars of access to livelihoods, gender equity, and humanitarian relief. A group data tracking tool manages the progress of our programs against agreed targets, allowing for consistent reporting across all hubs and creating a holistic view of our group impact.
We work with local NGOs and enterprise partnerships for innovation and execution.
In addition to group-level activities, companies within our portfolio are encouraged to develop and implement independent social impact activities specific to their segment, expertise and geography.
Various hubs of social impact programs across our group implement projects to foster development that protects the social and economic wellbeing of people within the social systems where we operate, catalysing progress and prosperity for all.
Naspers Labs
Naspers Labs is a development programme that seeks to tackle the issue of youth unemployment in South Africa. The programme empowers unemployed young people to build the skills to compete in South Africa’s labour force and become productive economic contributors.
Through alliances with on-the-ground delivery partners, Naspers Labs targets unemployed young people from previously disadvantaged communities, including rural areas, which face a range of additional challenges. Young people can join a technical skills development track that equips them with training in fields that are both in high demand and suitable for entry-level candidates, such as data analysis, data science and cybersecurity, and then supports them with placement into the workplace.
Alternatively, participants can join an entrepreneurship programme that offers mentoring and coaching to create sustainable, technology-enabled enterprises. In both cases, participants receive not just educational support, but a stipend to contribute to their household, plus devices and data to enable internet access. This holistic approach extends the impact of Naspers Labs beyond the participants to their households and wider communities.
Visit our dedicated Naspers Labs page
here.
Naspers Foundry
Naspers Foundry aims to lift South Africa’s nascent technology ecosystem through investment in early stage startups. Through the program, talented and ambitious entrepreneurs can access the capital and pool of practical expertise needed to grow their ventures. This much-needed support helps entrepreneurs succeed, driving employment, improving the maturity of South Africa’s technology ecosystem, and supporting businesses that drive positive social impact in areas like financial inclusion and access to education.
Visit our dedicated Naspers Foundry page
here.
Naspers Bursaries
Naspers Bursaries provides transformative financial and non-financial support to enable young people from lower-income communities to access quality higher education. The programme focuses on qualifications that are in high demand in South Africa’s employment market, ensuring that graduates have the best chance of going on to become economically active participants.
Students receive financial help with tuition, accommodation and other associated costs. They also receive a comprehensive package of non-financial support, such as additional workshops in topics like financial literacy and CV writing, and access to mental health support services. Naspers employees can volunteer as mentors for Naspers Bursaries students to support them as they transition into higher education and beyond.
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Visit our dedicated Naspers Bursaries page
here.
Naspers for Good
Naspers for Good empowers Naspers employees to drive social impact through the causes closest to their hearts. The programme seeks to go beyond corporate donation to bring employees closer to Naspers’ purpose, making individuals part of the decision-making process.
The programme’s social good fund is managed by a volunteer committee, which reviews applications and decides which causes to support and how this should be done, whether through a simple financial donation or through the provision of goods, services or expertise. The fund is complemented by an employee volunteering platform.
Employees can choose from more than 2000 pre-screened causes to find causes that are aligned to their own personal purpose and values. Employees can donate funding or goods or volunteer their time. Teams can also work together to achieve wider-scale results. These employee-driven initiatives help further Naspers’ positive impact, reaching causes that do not align precisely with other central programmes.
Learn more about Prosus’s initiatives here:
Prosus SICA
Prosus FLIGHT