We run several internal programmes to celebrate and motivate our people.

The key employee incentive programmes run during the year were the Customer Care Heroes and the Super Service Awards, two initiatives that aimed to showcase and encourage excellent service, as well as TopStars, a popular team-building singing competition.

We continued supporting tertiary education during the year under review. In addition to allocating more than R16 million in bursaries to 291 students across the continent in the 2017 academic year (and an anticipated R18 million in 2018), we offered workplace experience to public technical and vocational education training colleges and universities across the continent.

Retail Varsity, our registered private further education and training college, offers 22 accredited learning programmes and more than 1 500 retail-related courses. We have also rolled out more than 2 000 e-learning kiosks across the continent to provide access to learning curricula and facilitate remote learning. See how we invest in our people. 

We strive to create a culture of development and inclusivity, as is demonstrated through our Decade of the Deaf programme, which is nearing the target of 1 000 learners. To improve on and entrench our transformational objectives, we have formed a Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Committee, chaired by the chief executive officer. We believe that transformation and inclusive growth can only be achieved by partnering with exceptional people and businesses.