SAB Foundation Awards Over R18 Million To 23 Outstanding South African Social Innovators
SAB Foundation Awards Over R18 Million To 23 Outstanding South African Social Innovators. At the SAB Foundation Social Innovation and Disability Empowerment Awards held in Johannesburg, Vusmzi Initiative took first place in the Disability Empowerment category, while Lethabo claimed the top spot in the Social Innovation category.
Vusmzi Initiative is a sustainable apiculture and agriculture model that empowers people with disabilities. This innovation opens up socio-economic opportunities for people living in remote and rural communities by establishing beekeeping enterprises.
Lethabo is an AI-powered platform enabling users to manage electricity and water services in their native language. This app simplifies tasks like bill payments, issue reporting, and general enquiries across languages including isiZulu, Afrikaans, and Sesotho using natural language processing.
“The Social Innovation and Disability Empowerment Awards are designed to support entrepreneurs who are developing impactful solutions to address critical social challenges faced by women, youth, people in rural areas and people with disabilities,” says Bridgit Evans, Executive Director of the SAB Foundation. “These capable innovators will receive comprehensive support, including funding, business mentorship and coaching, access to mental health resources, and the opportunity to connect with a community of like-minded entrepreneurs through our provincial impact meet-ups. This holistic approach ensures they are equipped to drive meaningful change and scale their businesses effectively.”
This year the entries showcased ground-breaking solutions to social issues in health, food waste management, environment, education and other industries. Another innovation that stood out this year was, Enabled: Affordable Hearing Solutions, an innovative software solution designed to assist individuals with hearing impairments. They were awarded second place in the Disability Empowerment category.
TB Detection AI and Auscultation secured second place in the Social Innovation category for their outstanding work in healthcare. Their advanced digital stethoscope uses AI to detect tuberculosis (TB) and allows healthcare workers, even those without specialised training, to screen for TB quickly and cost-effectively.
“This is the 14th cohort of our Social Innovation Awards programme and the 9th cohort in the Disability Empowerment Awards programme who will be embarking on their entrepreneurial journey with us,” says Evans. “To date we have invested over R185 million to assist 326social innovators to grow their businesses. They have created 3 261new jobs and collectively employed 4 475people, which has indirectly impacted 17 900 livelihoods. The different innovations that they are working on have positively impacted the lives of over 8 million people, diverted over 1.3 million tonnes of waste from landfill and saved 300 million litres of water.”
“We were incredibly excited by the innovations presented this year, and look forward to seeing them change lives in communities that need it the most,” concludes Evans. A heartfelt congratulations to our winners and we are confident that they will remain committed to growing and refining their businesses.”
