By Fiona Wakelin & Koketso Mamabolo
The Top Empowered Socio-Economic Development Award recognises organisations doing their bit to improve the lives of disadvantaged communities, going beyond merely allocating funds towards social investment. Sasol took the accolade home at the 2023 Top Empowerment Awards and driving their social impact initiatives is Gao Mothoagae, Vice President of Corporate Social Investment and the Sasol Foundation. We sat down with her to find out about their award-winning work.
As an individual I was super excited. As a leader, I was extremely proud. You know they say it takes a village? Delivering impact takes a community. So there's nothing that I can say that I did on my own or that anyone on my team did on their own. Really it's about collaborative effort. And it's great to be recognised for the collaborative effort that has delivered this award for us. But even more so, the recognition from our peers really meant a lot to us. I think for me winning this award is testament to the fact that it's not necessarily about the stories we tell, but about the impact that is felt by our initiatives and our programmes that we execute, but also our collaborations, with all the different sectors - government, communities, corporations and the work that we do in partnership with business forums.
It also really meant a lot to SASOL employees because we want, as a company, to feel that our values mirror those of our employees, so just the outpouring of, I guess not even well-wishes - but pride that came from our employees, including those who are commenting on social media, was really phenomenal.
The Sasol Foundation is a separate entity to Sasol - their main focus is on education and then there is social impact within Sasol itself that focuses on all other aspects of social development or social investment.
Our journey started 70 years ago. And out of that journey grew Sasolburg. As the community grew around Sasol, so did our commitment to social good, which really is unequivocal. The Sasol Foundation is roughly 14 years old and they have really delivered some phenomenal achievements in terms of STEM education, working on textbooks with the Department of Education, translating them, and making sure that we bring education to life.