The Soul City Broad-Based Empowerment Company (SCBBEC or the Company) was established in 2006 to build and manage an investment portfolio that will enable sustainable annual financial contributions to the social justice work of its sole shareholder, the Soul City Institute for Social Justice. The business is 100% black-owned, has an independent board of directors, and is a level 1 contributor under the B-BBEE Act.
The Company’s shareholder, the Soul City Institute for Social Justice (SCI or the Institute), was formed in 1996 as a non-profit company without shareholders. As a traditional non-profit company, SCI relies on local and international donor funding that supports its vision for a just society for young women and girls and their communities.
The SCBBEC’s main goal is to ensure SCI’s sustainability and independence from donor funding, allowing the continuation of the organisation’s work despite the volatile nature of the donor funding world. This allows SCI to focus its efforts and resources on its beneficiaries, primarily young women and girls and their communities across South Africa. SCBBEC’s investment portfolio currently consists of eight investments, with a combined value of more than R260 million.
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The Company was created as a funding mechanism for the Soul City Institute and its programmes. It aims to support the Soul City Institute financially to enable the Institute to meet its goal, which is to resource, amplify, and strengthen young women’s voices and activism, thereby enabling women and girls to fully realise their human rights, reach their full potential, and live with dignity and wellbeing.
Contribute to young women's and adolescent girls’ understanding and claiming of their human rights, reaching their full potential, and living with dignity and wellbeing.
Actively search for opportunities to grow and diversify the investment portfolio that ensures the ongoing support of SCI’s work through sustainable dividend flows.
Seek investments aligned with the Investment Charter that ensure the Company remains profitable and generates the required cash flow.
Increase the shareholder’s sustainability by reducing its reliance on donor funding.
In line with its Investment Charter, SCBBEC seeks investments in companies that do not undermine, and preferably champion:
The Company’s growth enables the Institute’s work to change society, for the justice and benefit of everyone, especially young women and girls.
A 100% black-owned broad-based black economic empowerment company with access to a large black women beneficiary base.
Gender Lens Investment that promotes gender equality and girls' and women’s empowerment.
Advocacy and Policy that involve funding research, public awareness campaigns, and lobbying efforts to promote gender-responsive policies.
Girls' Education and Leadership that improves access to quality education for girls and young women, including fellowships, mentorship programmes and leadership development for girls, ensuring equal opportunities for their future.
Gender-Based Violence Prevention to support organisations and programmes addressing gender-based violence.
We manage a portfolio worth more than R260 million and we have already contributed over R100 million to the upliftment work of the Soul City Institute since inception.
The company holds a 10% direct interest in the 138MW Gouda Wind Farm, located at Gouda, Western Cape, and a further 0.9% indirect interest through a 3.65% share in Celanex Proprietary Limited, an investment holding company.
The company holds a 10% direct interest in a 94MW solar farm located at Kathu in the Northern Cape and a further 0.9% indirect interest through a 3.65% share of Celanex Proprietary Limited, an investment holding company.
The company holds a 20% interest in Acciona Energy South Africa O&M, which is responsible for operating and maintaining the Gouda Wind Farm (Gouda, Western Cape) and Sishen Solar Farm (Kathu, Northern Cape).
The company holds a 0.9% interest in Ntsimbintle Holding Proprietary Limited, which is invested in several manganese mines in South Africa and two manganese marketing companies internationally.
The company holds 70 000 ordinary shares in Vodacom’s broad-based empowerment vehicle, YeboYethu.
The company holds 20 777 ordinary shares in Sasol Limited and 207 768 ordinary shares in Sasol’s broad-based empowerment vehicle, Sasol Khanyisa.
The Company aims to support Soul City Institute financially to enable SCI to meet its goal, which is to resource, amplify, and strengthen young women’s voices and activism, allowing them to fully realise their human rights, reach their full potential, and live with dignity and wellbeing. The Institute actions its vision and mission through a methodology that combines media, advocacy, and social mobilisation.
Soul City Institute is committed to:
The Soul City Institute began with a desire to be a trusted source of health education through different forms of mass media. It has subsequently transformed into an intersectional feminist organisation with a specific focus on the empowerment of young women and girls in all their diversities.
Boys and Girls aged 8-14
Youth aged 20-24
Young women aged 19-25
In 2022, the Institute launched the Feminist Leadership and Activist Centre (FLAC), a learning and co-creation space to create the next generation of young feminist women who are empowered and liberated.
Feminist technology involves using technological innovations for the safety and equality of women.
In addition to its media and social mobilisation work, Soul City introduced two innovative feminist technologies, Safetipin and rAInbow, to respond to gender-based violence and femicide.
In a ground-breaking South-to-South partnership, Soul City and Safetipin, a social enterprise based in Delhi, India, partnered to address women's safety concerns in public spaces in Durban. The three-year project involved community engagement, data collection, and advocacy to inform the eThekwini Municipality’s Safe City Strategy and design gender-responsive interventions.
Soul City collaborated with UK-based AI for Good to develop rAInbow, a friendly, non-judgmental chatbot that helps people identify signs of abuse and provides relevant resources to help them.
The Soul City Institute has a national footprint across all nine provinces in South Africa and it is world-renowned for its pioneering work in harnessing popular culture to bring about social and behaviour change.
Soul City Institute impact and achievements
