FY2026 marked the first year of our audacious 10-year youth empowerment strategy – and the start of turning our vision into action. Our destination is clear: to empower 500,000 young South Africans to become economically active and productive by 2035. 

 In FY2026, we focused on building the foundations needed to deliver on that ambition. We prioritised quality over volume and depth over breadth, pausing some programmes and refining others to ensure our investment remained aligned with the needs of young people, employers and communities.

Our Skills Development, Entrepreneurship Development and Education Development portfolios continued to drive economic inclusion.

Through our Skills Development portfolio, we reached 10,167 unemployed young people, with 7,274 (71.5%) securing employment opportunities. We strengthened relationships with Mr Price Group’s trading divisions, established new partnerships with Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator and SOS Children’s Villages, and introduced the Pattern Making Programme to respond to demand for specialised manufacturing skills.

Our Entrepreneurship Development portfolio experienced strong demand. More than 1,200 youth-owned SMEs applied for the Bindzu Youth Fund, through which we deployed R1.5 million in seed capital. Our digital Funding Readiness Masterclass supported more than 1,000 businesses to explore pathways to growth and funding, while we established three Foundation Coffee Incubator sites at Mr Price stores.

In our Education Development portfolio, we launched the Entrepreneurship Olympiad across 11 high schools in Hammarsdale, giving aspiring entrepreneurs an opportunity to develop and present business ideas while building confidence, agency and community engagement.

We are grateful to our donors, service providers and partners for their trust and support, including Valterra Platinum, Absa, the SPAR Group, CHEP and, especially, Mr Price Group, its associates and customers who support #Hope4Youth.

#Hope4Youth is becoming an increasingly important source of diversified funding. In FY2026, it attracted R3.8 million in donations from Mr Price Group’s credit and in-store customers.

This year reinforced our belief that our 10-year roadmap can create meaningful opportunities for young people at scale.

Together, we are building youth empowerment programmes that can become national assets – trusted by business, government and civil society and capable of creating lasting impact.