Telkom strives to create shared value for its business and society through strategic interventions that meaningfully impact the South African economy, creating social and commercial value.
We made significant strides in supporting SMMEs through the FutureMakers programme over the last decade. We have anchored our position as a leading corporate partner in developing SMMEs in the ICT sector.
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External moderate assurance on selected sustainability indicators. Refer to the FY2025 Independent Assurance Report, available online. |
FutureMakers marked 10 years of unwavering support for SMMEs since its launch in 2015, with an initial R250 million investment in the IDF Future Fund.
Over 2 600 black-owned SMMEs have been supported through incubation, investment, connectivity, and business development support services.
FutureMakers supports SMMEs through financial and non-financial programmes. Our ESD programmes aim to unearth innovation through SMMEs that can improve Telkom's business and offerings. This is achieved through:
The FutureMakers Programme focuses on two areas: diverse supply chain programmes and innovation programmes. In FY2025, Telkom supported 459 enterprises (FY2024: 428) through procurement opportunities worth R859 million (FY2024: R339 million) and innovation programmes. Some suppliers who had grown too large exited the programme and the Independent Field Technicians (IFT) Programme ended. BCX increased its support for SMMEs from 300 to 357.
FutureMakers businesses collectively created and sustained 73 890 job opportunities (FY2024: 69 500), a 6% improvement, as the adoption rate of the platform businesses we supported increased. We have impacted over 250 000 lives through our support for SMMEs.
We work with youth- and female-owned businesses and promote inclusive innovation and localisation. The second cohort of the Township Innovation Incubator Programme graduated in February 2025. Since its launch in April 2023, the programme has supported 13 entrepreneurs from North West, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Western Cape – providing each with R50 000 in seed capital along with business development support and training.
FutureMakers continued to support the I'M IN Women Pre-Accelerated Programme. This followed a successful ideation phase in partnership with JP Morgan and the Embassy of Ireland in South Africa. The programme supports investment readiness among 15 African women-owned technology start-ups from underserved communities and universities.
FutureMakers contributes to the investing with purpose pillar of the ESG strategy. It does this by developing and investing in a new generation of black-owned, highgrowth enterprises that create the most jobs and economic outcomes in society.
In 2023, the Telkom FutureMakers programme recruited 13 township entrepreneurs in the ICT sector for its Township Innovation Incubator Programme.
This followed a successful 18-month virtual programme that was piloted in Soweto a year earlier. Here, the final cohort included 11 technology social entrepreneurs chosen from over 100 applicants.
The 18-month programme included training in taking solutions from ideation to solution stage, digital skills, and support to develop solutions into minimum viable products (MVPs).
The programme provided the following support to the 13 entrepreneurs:
The second cohort of the Township Innovation Incubator Programme at their graduation ceremony in Bryanston on 28 February 2025.
The table below maps our programmes according to the start-up life cycle and classifies programmes according to our two focus areas.
| Start-up life cycle stage: |
Seed and development (ideation) |
Early stage (start-up) |
Later stage (growth, establishment and expansion) |
| Focus areas: | Enterprise development Innovation | Enterprise development Innovation | Supplier development Diverse supply chains Localisation |
| Programme: | 1 Telkom Township Innovation Incubator | 1 ICT Venture Builder with Aions | 1 Mentorship programme and business development support services |
| An 18-month structured innovation and digital skills training programme with software development support. | A scale-up programme fusing equity investment and business development support. The aim is to scale up tech start-ups by unlocking blockages in their development path and making them venture capital ready. | An annual structured programme customised for Telkom’s suppliers to increase their business growth and provide business development support. | |
| 2 Hackathons and incubation | 2 Women in ICT Pre-Accelerator | 2 Direct support services per business unit | |
| Hackathons to solve Telkom innovation challenges in partnership with start-ups. These are followed by 12 to 18 months of incubation covering business and technology readiness. |
The I'M IN Women Pre- Accelerated Programme develops female ICT entrepreneurs using a progressive elaboration process. The programme graduated 15 young women from previously disadvantaged backgrounds and aims to progress them to an accelerator in FY2026. | Ad hoc material, marketing, and grant support to SMME suppliers per business unit (Gyro, Telkom Consumer and Openserve). | |
| 3 Early payment days | |||
| Payment of invoices within seven to 14 days for all FutureMakers-approved SMMEs. | |||
| 4 BCX SMME Subcontractor Programme | |||
| Partnering of BCX and SMMEs when responding to clients through subcontracting. |
The table below maps the three investment vehicles across the start-up life cycle.
| Programme: | 1 Telkom Future Fund managed by IDF Capital | |
| Established in 2015 with a R150 million investment from Telkom (R250 million including BCX) to fund the stages of the start-up life cycle. The fund is in divestment phase and expires in September 2026. The fund manager is charged with optimising returns while meeting the set expiry date. | ||
| 2 Aions: ICT Venture Builder | 3 Supplier Development Funder | |
| Established in FY2023 with a commitment of R150 million over five years depending on business performance. It builds other technology companies from seed and development to early-stage phases and facilitates investments in those companies. | Established in FY2023 with R100 million over five years depending on business performance. Provides capital to SMMEs in Telkom’s supply chain who are part of FutureMakers. | |
Ensuring the long-term sustainability of our SMMEs through a wider pool of procurement, funding and technical mentorship opportunities remains a key challenge.
In FY2025, FutureMakers leveraged a shared pool of opportunities through improved collaboration and partnerships. Employees serve as transformation ambassadors in a shared commitment to nurture FutureMakers' SMMEs and incorporate them into our supply chain. Market access remains a key focus as we seek sustainable opportunities for the SMMEs.
| Telkom | Society | |||
| Commercial | Telkom Consumer distribution channels: R186.6 million in sales revenue (FY2024: R104 million) |
SMMEs in our programmes generated revenue of R538 million (FY2024: R388 million) | ||
| Social | A contribution to Telkom's ESG strategy to impact 100 000 lives through SMME development by FY2025 resulted in the target being met in FY2023. The target has been revised to 250 000 lives impacted by FY2027. | 73 890 new jobs created and
sustained (FY2024: 67 063),
resulting in 251 203 lives
impacted.*
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Target by 2027* 
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The 251 203 lives impacted by FY2025 shows the resilience and sustainability of the underlying businesses. We have achieved the target of 250 000 lives impacted by 2027* two years in advance. However, the IDF Future Fund is in divestment stage (ending in September 2026), which poses a risk as Telkom exits investments. The attainment of this target has largely been due to Telkom's investments in digital platform companies in the IDF Future Fund that created jobs. The jobs created at exit will continue to be included in the report, but any additional jobs after the exit date will not be included.
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AdvannoTech has shown resilience since graduating from the Tech Accelerator Programme in FY2024. The IoT solution and platform provider made significant strides after being onboarded as a solutions partner for Telkom Consumer.
Solution partner status effectively graduates AdvannoTech from enterprise development to supplier development. The partnership is forecast to unlock IoT opportunities in various industries.
AdvannoTech is a 100% black-owned IoT solution and platform provider servicing the property, agriculture, utilities, asset management industries, and more.
VantageX is an advanced data fusion platform that integrates seamlessly with existing business applications. It provides comprehensive business intelligence, data automation and machine learning capabilities. This empowers organisations to transform raw data into actionable insights, driving efficiency and innovation.
AdvannoTech needed additional investment to develop and productise its VantageX platform and to source additional software tools, cloud infrastructure, and specialised talent. In addition, it required:
A partnership with Telkom Consumer came through FutureMakers, allowing AdvannoTech to go to market with Telkom on its IoT offering.
AdvannoTech received R620 000 in grant support (inclusive of awards prize money) and further funding from the Absa Supplier Development Fund of R6.3 million to fulfil current orders and its pipeline of orders at that time.
Marketing and business development support, including access to market exhibitions and awards:
Key partnerships and clients:
The Telkom CoE Programme supports cutting-edge developments that address critical societal and industrial challenges together with its 15 CoEs. This programme delivers impactful solutions through strategic partnerships and multi-disciplinary research.
In FY2025, the Telkom CoE Programme supported 250 students across various disciplines, including two postdoctoral, 81 doctoral, 146 master's, and 21 honours students.
Telkom and the NRF launched the Future Technologies (FutureTech) Programme as a pilot, with an initial co‑investment of R18 million over three years. It supports ICT research and development in areas such as network and fibre-optic solutions, multi-modal sensing, IoT, virtualisation, and AI, with a focus on local language and speech technologies.
The programme will drive innovation, enhance South Africa's ICT sector and support historically disadvantaged institutions through partnerships. It also aims to develop a skilled workforce through research funding, mentorship and internship opportunities. As part of the programme, student beneficiaries will have the opportunity to complete an internship at Openserve.
The Telkom Foundation contributes to the transformation of disadvantaged communities. It achieves this by investing in education, youth and skills development, working in collaboration with government, the private sector and civil society.
In FY2025, the Telkom Foundation invested
R68.3 million (including administration costs)
(FY2024: R71.2 million). Of this, R36.3 million
was invested in education, R22.4 million
in digital skills, and R1.6 million in social
development programmes.
The Foundation provides ICT resources, connectivity and digital literacy training to bridge the digital divide.
It supports the zero-rated Telkom Lightbulb Platform, which delivers content aligned with the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) to learners in Grades 7 to 12. Its targeted digital skills development initiatives equip young people with skills in coding, robotics and other emerging technologies.
The Foundation's academic support programme reached 2 206 learners face‑to‑face and 33 798 learners online. This contributed to a Grade 12 pass rate of 99%, with an average 1.6 distinctions per learner. In addition, 92% of learners passed with university entrance.
The Foundation's psychosocial support programme assisted 314 002 individuals (FY2024: 346 707) with counselling and awareness programmes. Increased call volumes at the national toll-free lines (Childline and Lifeline) highlighted a growing need for these services.
A total of 250 learners completed the Foundation's multi-year future-fit skills programme. They received certifications in IC3 digital literacy, web, game and app development, Microbit, entrepreneurship, and Scratch.
The Foundation awarded 40 bursaries to university students from its post-school academic support programme. The students achieved a 90% pass rate with 29 distinctions. In addition, 1 207 youth received accredited ICT skills training, with 488 certified, 400 undergoing moderation, and 207 at the work experience stage.
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External moderate assurance on selected sustainability indicators. Refer to the FY2025 Independent Assurance Report, available online. |
The integration of ICT in education has long been hindered by limited teacher training, outdated methodologies, and misalignment with rapid technological advances. This has particularly affected science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.
In response, the Telkom Foundation established the Teacher Development Programme to equip educators with digital competencies and modern teaching skills.
The programme trains teachers in digital tools like Google Suite and Office 365, fosters the creation of digital content, and uses hands-on workshops to close gaps in digital literacy. This has strengthened STEM instruction and enhanced learner outcomes.
Under the programme, 697 teachers have received ICT integration training and 848 educators have benefited from targeted pedagogical support.
An independent impact assessment conducted in November 2024 estimated that the programme has generated R192 million in value through improved teaching quality, from a total investment of R6 million. This translates to a social return on investment of R32 for every rand invested.
The programme also aligns SDG 4, SDG 8 and SDG 9, reinforcing Telkom's innovative approach to community support and sustainable development.
Teachers trained
Impact flow
Teacher capacity building > Empowered educators > Higher quality of education delivery
Digital skills development > Equipping teachers and students with future-ready skills
Blended learning > Promoting sustainable, innovative and inclusive education models
Retention rate – Total number of teachers at the start (210) and at the end of the project (276)
Teachers trained per year
Over the past decade, the Telkom Foundation has become a cornerstone of Telkom's commitment to transform education in South Africa. By integrating supplementary tuition, resilience-building initiatives, digital skills training and targeted teacher development, it has consistently elevated the quality of education.
Evaluations indicate that more than 15 000 learners have benefited from supplementary tuition, resulting in an average matric pass rate of 90%, with 36% achieving university entrance.
Over 46 000 learners have participated in face-to-face resilience-building sessions. In parallel, more than 7 000 teachers have been equipped with skills for traditional and virtual learning environments, ensuring that educational support reaches every corner of the community.
This comprehensive initiative reflects a long-term financial commitment. The Foundation has invested approximately R158 million in education transformation over the past five years.