Our communities

Ensuring positive socioeconomic impact by unlocking shared prosperity through supporting inclusive education is core to Datatec’s purpose.

Primarily through the work of our subsidiaries and through the Datatec Educational and Technology Foundation (“the Foundation”), we actively work towards ensuring that education is more inclusive and socially relevant by investing in eliminating barriers to education and actively driving access to quality learning opportunities.

Datatec has committed to work and partner with organisations that align with its Responsible Business philosophy and that offer programmes which support education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (“STEM”) to empower disadvantaged communities, and which facilitate interventions to increase the number of women and minority groups in the technology industry. We seek to positively impact the communities in which we operate through four community support interventions:

The Foundation

Datatec is deeply committed to empowering people at the grassroots level to reduce poverty and inequality. It has been another successful year for the Foundation, which met its principal objective to improve the quality of education in South Africa and create opportunities for those less fortunate.

The Foundation provides funding support to organisations that aim to improve education within underprivileged communities in South Africa, with spend primarily directed into school-level intervention programmes for learners and teachers, and educational bursaries. Other initiatives include providing technology infrastructure and skills development for unemployed youth.

The Foundation’s beneficiaries include:

• Afrika Tikkun provides sustainable care and educational development for vulnerable and orphaned children from birth until age 25
• Kutlwanong Centre for Maths, Science and Technology – Promaths provides after-school and holiday mathematics and physical sciences tuition for Grades 10 – 12 learners in the Eastern Cape’s Mdantsane township
• Maharishi Institute offers virtually free university access opportunities to unemployed youth, and increase employability after completing their degree courses
• OLICO Maths Education provides a blended use of extracurricular mathematics tutoring, custom-built online mathematics programmes (Grade 7 – 12 learners), and mathematics clubs aimed at primary school learners (Grades R – 6)
• PROTEC Pietermaritzburg provides enrichment education for disadvantaged children in Grades 9 – 12
• The Tomorrow Trust provides integrated academic and psychosocial support to orphaned and vulnerable children
• The Vula Programme is an educational outreach initiative at Hilton College in KwaZulu-Natal, which services more than 100 under-resourced schools from previously disadvantaged communities

FY24 highlights

• One in three OLICO 2023 matric learners scored above 70% for mathematics
• OLICO’s 2023 matric cohorts at Diepsloot, Alex High and Heideveld produced more than double the number of 50%+ mathematics passes of any year in the past decade prior to OLICO support
• Tomorrow Trust achieved a 100% matric pass rate and 20 out of the 30 learners are pursuing degrees in STEM in the 2024 academic year
• 60 out of the 90 learners from the Kutlwanong Promaths 2023 matric class are pursuing STEM related degrees in the 2024 academic year
• The Vula teacher training programme in 2023 was extended to include teachers from the Harry Gwala district (Ixopo, Kokstad, Bulwer, Underberg) in KwaZulu-Natal
• PROTEC Pietermaritzburg achieved a 100% matric pass rate and 100% bachelor pass rate
• 18 out of the 23 learners from the PROTEC Pietermaritzburg 2023 matric class are pursuing STEM related degrees in the 2024 academic year
• The Maharishi Institute has successfully placed all the Cybersecurity Academy graduates into paid internships and the last cohort transitioned to permanent employment at the end of their internship

Specific targets for FY25 include: a 100% pass rate for Kutlwanong Promaths Grade 12 learners, a 90% pass rate for OLICO’s Grade 12 learners, a 90% minimum pass rate for PROTEC Pietermaritzburg’s Grade 12 learners, a 100% pass rate for The Tomorrow Trust’s Grade 12 learners, and mathematics training for an additional 100 teachers on The Vula Programme.

For detailed information on the Foundation’s community activities, including detailed FY25 targets and progress against the FY24 targets published in the 2023 integrated report, please refer to the Datatec 2024 annual report.

Datatec flagship project

In FY24, Datatec supported the Concern Worldwide “Promoting access to STEM education” project which benefited 646 learners and their teachers in the Marsabit county of Kenya. Datatec has invested US$50 000 in the project, providing mobile laboratories, science kits and training resources for eight primary schools in the county.

Datatec emergency response

Datatec donated US$50 000 to Concern Worldwide on their Sudan/Chad and Lebanon Emergency Appeals to assist those affected by the ongoing humanitarian crises in those regions.

Datatec supported the rebuilding efforts from the severe flooding in April 2022 in KwaZulu-Natal and September 2023 in the Western Cape, South Africa by donation ZAR770 000 to Gift of the Givers to install two mathematics and science laboratories at two primary schools, in the respective provinces, that suffered infrastructure damage from the floods.

Mandela Day

Datatec head office partnered with Afrika Tikkun at the Wings of Life Centre in Diepsloot on Mandela Day preparing nutritious meals and dignity packs for the children at the Early Childhood Development Centre.

Westcon International

Westcon International continues to adhere to its CSR policy to be a Responsible Business that meets the highest standards of ethics and professionalism. It is committed to working and partnering with organisations that align with its CSR philosophy on sustainability, e-waste, technology and education. Westcon International is committed to the United Nations Global Compact and will readily act to promote its identity as a socially aware and Responsible Business.

Westcon International’s Education in the community portfolio consists of three programmes, each of which align to its core business and anticipated business needs, the community and social challenges that have been highlighted as being of concern in each of the regions that Westcon International operates in, and as being of importance to its people across the globe.

The Education in the Community Programmes include:

• Driving STEM: Supporting education in STEM to empower disadvantaged communities
• Diversity in technology: Facilitating interventions to increase the number of women and minority groups in the technology industry
• Skills for technology: Retaining staff through education, providing current and relevant training and attracting new talent to support them within the technology industry

While Westcon International will continue to participate in local events, a specific global target for FY25 is the implementation of a global volunteering scheme and policy and to continue to drive Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion by raising awareness and drive action through a DEI strategy which includes a DEI learning programme for all employees to experience, and a specific focus on neurodiversity.

For detailed information on Westcon International’s community activities, please refer to the Datatec 2024 annual report.

Logicalis

Logicalis’ social and community development goal is to improve education for the next generation and to support local charities in the communities that it operates in. Logicalis believes that by combining regional and local efforts under a divisional strategy and structure, it can facilitate the creation of meaningful, sustainable impact – for Logicalis and the world.

Logicalis continued to support future Architects of Change through education in FY24, implementing 24 community initiatives across the Group in the US, EMEA, Asia, Australia and Latin America. Logicalis’ goal is to continue to deepen our impact through the implementation of strategic education projects across the world, while ensuring that a minimum of 50% of the project beneficiaries are women and/or represent regional ethnic minority groups.

For detailed information on Logicalis International and Logicalis Latin America’s community activities, please refer to the Datatec 2024 annual report.

Logicalis LATAM Women Rock IT event.