HCI Foundation

The HCI Foundation is an independent trust, controlled by its trustees, drawn from people across the spectra of social development and financial experience. These include members of the HCI Board of Directors, employees from subsidiary companies and independent experts who are able to add value to the specific foci of the Foundation’s work.

The Foundation has its own offices in Cape Town with a regional office in Gauteng to support the work programme as it develops from having an essentially regional base into one that supports social development nationally.

The Foundation has its own capital and is accordingly not limited to the social spend of HCI and its group subsidiaries for its programmes. The Foundation has been extremely fortunate to inherit the Golden Arrow Foundation (“GAF”) and its previous achievements as a base upon which to build and develop the corporate social responsibility initiative on behalf of HCI. GAF was started as the social awareness programme of the Golden Arrow Bus Company (“GABS”). A donation was made by the owners of that company comprising a 50% stake in GABS. When the company was bought by HCI half the purchase price was channeled to GAF. The capital base of the Foundation was doubled by further personal donations from HCI management, all of which has created a unique financial independence for the social programmes of HCI to be developed and implemented through the Foundation. The capital base of the Foundation, which is currently over 7% of the market capitalization of HCI, will allow us to contribute significantly, relative to the size of HCI.

The Foundation will co-operate with, and contribute to, social programmes of the group’s companies. This will allow the group to significantly deepen its social contribution on a national basis.

The Foundation has identified a number of areas in which it hopes to make significant contributions that will make a real difference. In general, the objective is to uplift needy communities and individuals, and to enhance the quality of life and opportunities available to employees of subsidiaries and associates of the HCI group.

To-date, these areas of focus have been the bursaries, involvement with HIV/AIDS, and the vulnerable and disabled sector.