Part Two
In the mid-1950s Anglo American founder Ernest Oppenheimer made the memorable observation that it was the responsibility of the business to create a “real and lasting contribution” to the communities in which it operates. These words remain at the heart of the way Anglo American conducts its business today.

One of the most enduring examples of Anglo American’s commitment to community development and poverty alleviation is its Chairman’s Fund. Launched in the late 1950s, the Chairman’s Fund was established as a dedicated vehicle through which Anglo American could drive its social investment spend. Over the years, investments have ranged from small grassroots initiatives to major capital-building projects and large-scale service delivery programmes in partnership with provincial and national authorities. Focus areas include HIV/AIDS, healthcare, education, and entrepreneurial development.

Since 2010, when the NDP was established, the Chairman’s Fund has partnered with more than 1,000 projects and invested more than ZAR 350 million. Today, the Chairman’s Fund is the leading corporate donor in South Africa and in 2013 it was named the top corporate social investment grant-maker in South Africa for the eighth time.

It is no accident that the approach and ethos of the Chairman’s Fund very much aligns to the expectations of ‘big business’ set out in the NDP. Anglo American has long partnered with government and host communities to ensure effective and sustainable investment opportunities and it is this collective approach that has been highlighted in the NDP.

The Chairman’s Fund is proof that with shared ambition, shared responsibility and a collaborative spirit, South Africa can make its plan a reality.


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2:46 – “What I learned was that the diamond business wasn’t a business about extracting as I originally expected. Something of enormous value and then simply seeing how much of this object you could get out of the ground and selling it. That was what the business appeared to be when I started my venture, but --their real business was restricting what came out of the ground, restricting what was discovered, restricting what got cut, restricting what actually find its way into the retail market and at the same time through movies, through advertising, through Hollywood, through the manipulation of perceptions creating the idea that there was this enormous demand for these shiny little objects that they seem to have an abundance supply--. So I wound up on this voyage of discovery, starting off with the idea that there was this object of great value and it was just a question of how many you could get out and what I wound up discovering was just the opposite.”