3 ways South African social investors can capitalise on G20
Having participated in and attended events around the G20 Summit in Johannesburg, including the T20 Summit, NBI Climate Summit, Global Citizen Now, and the B20 business-philanthropy roundtable, the Tshikululu Social Investments team looks at how South African social investors can capitalise on the global spotlight.
Image credit: Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash
These events provided opportunities for us to meet and engage with leaders across business, policy and philanthropy on shaping the future of inclusive growth in South Africa.
The conversations around B20 and G20 reaffirmed the urgent need to align innovation, capital, and collaboration to address systemic challenges, from unemployment to gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) to the just transition.
Cross-sector collaboration is now recognised globally as essential.
The institutionalisation of philanthropy within global policy discussions creates new spaces for influence, collaboration, and co-design – purpose and profit can and must reinforce one another to build resilient economies.
Through our participation in these events, we identified three themes that are most relevant to social investors:
- Inclusive capital
Development requires capital, and with the world moving away from aid as a primary mechanism, it is becoming increasingly important to ensure that capital is inclusive and invests in strengthening resilience and development.
Even as we are seeing the reduction of aid from the Global North, there is an increase in blended finance investment and concessional loans with more favourable terms for African opportunities.
A very positive step towards mobilising capital to make sure the most vulnerable people are not left behind is the commitment of a combined €15.5bn in pledges towards renewable energy in Africa – the result of a campaign led by President Ramaphosa and the European Union over the course of South Africa’s G20 presidency.
Announced at the Global Citizen Scaling up Renewables in Africa event, this global commitment to advancing the rollout of clean power on the continent is a testament to the power of partnerships to drive inclusive growth.
- Business-philanthropy collaboration
The theme of this B20 – the first to convene on African soil – was “Inclusive Growth and Prosperity through Global Cooperation.”
The business-philanthropy roundtable, hosted by WINGS, in partnership with the Anglo American Foundation and other global partners, focused on strengthening business-philanthropy collaboration to unlock capital for inclusive growth and to accelerate social innovation across emerging markets.
The inclusion of philanthropy in the B20 process affirms the role of social investment in financing development.
The event showed clear momentum to formalise philanthropy’s role within the B20 process through structured collaboration, shared policy work, and continuity into the next G20 cycle.
Dr Anthony Costa, head of the B20 South Africa Secretariat, announced the Business and Philanthropy Legacy Partnership, recognised as an official B20 Legacy Initiative.
This initiative includes the creation of Aséli Impact Capital, a permanent capital impact fund designed to mobilise South African capital for measurable social outcomes.
This signals a maturing of South Africa’s social-finance ecosystem, moving from short-term grants to catalytic, permanent capital designed for systemic impact.
- Beyond G20 South Africa
The promises, pledges and commitments made at the summit must translate into action.
We welcome the president’s declaration of GBVF as a national crisis and recognise that responding adequately requires decisive action – and resources.
The same is true of fulfilling our just transition ambitions. Tshikululu was part of the Just Transition and Energy Mix task force throughout the year, contributing to the development of the policy paper, which was then presented at B20.
This set of targeted recommendations is a strong foundation for meaningful action – the challenge for South Africa now is implementation.
The Climate Summit had a practical focus on how South Africa can implement solutions in the climate space beyond our G20 presidency.
Mzila Mthenjane, CEO of the Minerals Council South Africa, spoke on the urgency of moving beyond declarations and into transformation and delivery, emphasising that “the world cannot achieve net zero without Africa’s minerals, Africa’s markets, and most critical, Africa’s leadership”.
Implementing the commitments made at the summit requires political will, financing and collaboration, and for us to take advantage of this high-profile moment where Africa and South Africa’s priorities have been given centre stage.
South Africa’s G20 presidency was a unique opportunity to highlight African challenges on a global scale and meaningfully participate in development conversations, not just as recipients of aid but as drivers of our own growth.
It reaffirmed that partnership is a strategy for resilience: collaboration between business, government and philanthropy is how we turn shared intent into shared value.
South Africa has a distinctive voice to offer – one rooted in innovation, community and courage.
Our challenge is to translate that voice into scalable models that deliver tangible outcomes for people and planet.