“Growing Together” is at the heart our business philosophy of the Premier Way. We prioritise ensuring food security so that enough nutritious, safe food options are available to people in our communities. Our many Corporate Social Investment initiatives have been driven by our purpose of nourishing and empowering communities to grow together. In addition to our own projects, to extend our reach, we partner with established NGO’s who are well equipped to manage disaster relief and distribute product to those in need. We partner with the African Children’s Feeding Scheme, Gift of the Givers, Food Forward, the Red Cross and many more, donating millions of loaves of bread and other products towards various relief programmes.
Our belief is that the future of our country is dependent on access to and improved standards of education. Through our bursaries, graduate internships and learnerships, we aim to assist and develop unemployed youth and people with disabilities. Our Unemployed Disabled Learnership programme, the Bake-for-Profit course, co-sponsored by our Snowflake brand, and various holiday camps sponsored by our brands are designed to help uplift members of impoverished communities and contribute towards addressing the high unemployment rate in South Africa. In addition, Enterprise Supplier Development programmes have been undertaken to empower people in our communities in the same way. Our various creche projects, initiated by Blue Ribbon, Mister Bread, Star Bakeries and BB Bakeries, employ local service providers to renovate creches across the country and assist in early learning development as well as providing meals and donations of learning materials.
We work to end all forms of discrimination against women and girls, ensuring women’s equal opportunities in the workplace and through our Lil-lets products, support gender equality. As part of our intimate health and hygiene initiatives, Lil-lets offers health education through several channels, such as our Lil-lets Talk platform, to demystify myths associated with menstruation and empower women to talk about menstrual hygiene. Sanitary protection products are also distributed to alleviate period poverty through a number of initiatives and NGO’s, including Millions of Comfort in partnership with Dischem, Caring4Girls, Gift of the Givers, African Children Feeding Scheme, Hlokomela Banana in Lesotho amongst others, with the aim of helping keep girls at school during their monthly cycles.
With more than 30 sites across the country employing over 8 100 people from local communities, our operations play a proactive role in disaster management, food security, community clean ups and facilities upgrades.
Through these extensive corporate social responsibility activities, we intend to contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals through mobilising and sharing knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources.
The Communities pillar of our sustainability strategy is aligned with the following UN Sustainable Goals (SDGs):