From the CEO’s desk

Trust and integrity the bedrock of our business

As the first glimmers of Spring bring new warmth to our hearts, at CoCre8 we are looking forward to the beginning of a new phase within Africa, after an extremely tough last 18 months.

We’re happy to have survived the turmoil of the last 18 months. But, more importantly, we are pleased to have survived it with the trust and integrity that we have built over the years, still intact.

Along with our deep well of skills, knowledge and thought leadership, those traits of trust and integrity are the foundations of our business. Without them we are irrelevant.

CoCre8 recently achieved Level One Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) accreditation. We are justifiably proud of this achievement, but actually much prouder of the many social and enterprise development endeavours that underpin the certificate.

What is really important, is what happens behind the scenes of our Level One accreditation.  Our involvement in the Little Rose Centre in Kliptown Soweto, ensures that children are fed, housed and educated; and that our provision of IT services to young people in Diepsloot through the Wot-If Trust results in the transfer of much-needed digital skills.

By buying wholeheartedly into the YES (Youth Employment Service) programme, we help young people gain valuable work experience that ensures they get jobs that will enable them to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. Most of our YES graduates are now gainfully employed, some of them with us at CoCre8.

Our tireless work with SMME partners means we are involved in the upliftment of entrepreneurs, companies and, ultimately, whole communities.

These are the important but often unspoken efforts that give true meaning to the B-BBEE certificate. And we don’t do them for the accreditation, we do them because it’s the right thing to do.

So lastly, when times are tough, it’s more important than ever to get involved and try to make a difference. Yes, business is tough at the moment, but that’s exactly when we need to invest more in doing good.

I often share with our CoCre8 Team, we need to be ‘selfish’, which often earns me some odd looks. But if giving, helping, supporting and uplifting people creates a satisfying feeling for you – then be ‘selfish’ – and continue doing good as it uplifts everyone touched by it.

Let’s make sure that when we reach the end of these hard times, we have carried our fellow staff, partners, companies, families and communities with us.