Who we are

About us

The story behind our name

Tshikululu Social Investments

Tshikululu is the Venda name for the resilient African rock fig (Ficus Abutilifolia), which flourishes in South Africa’s far north regions, despite few resources and a challenging environment. Just like this tree, the Tshikululu organisation works with social investors to design and implement development programmes that take root in small gaps and adverse conditions yet flourish over time.

Addressing Transformation

Maximising the power of social investment to achieve impact.

We work with social investors and partners to design and implement high-impact social investment strategies, social development programmes and environment, social and governance (ESG) solutions to address poverty, inequality and unemployment in South Africa.

Our vision is a world where everyone has the opportunity to thrive, and our purpose is to maximise the power of social investment to achieve impact.

Leadership Team

Our board members, committee members and management team believe in our values and live them every day. We have gathered a remarkable group of people who perfectly embody our mission and principles.

Our Values

Our values are deeply embedded in everything we do and every interaction we have.

We are DYNAMIC

We approach the challenge of social change with an innovative and pioneering mindset. We learn through our failures and thrive on complexity.

We are driven by EXCELLENCE

We aim to be brilliant because the work we do is too important to be mediocre. We are performance-driven and hold each other accountable.

We prioritise INTEGRITY

We are ethical and never compromise on our values. We always care for our colleagues, clients and partners at all times.

We embrace RESILIENCE

We respond to competing priorities with mindfulness, optimism and energy. We pull together and persevere when the going gets tough but also take time for reflection.

Timeline

Track Record

Just like the Tshikululu tree, our organisation has grown stronger each year since 1998.

2023

Celebrated Tshikululu’s 25th Anniversary and published our Community Trust Benchmarking Report.

2022

Rolled out COVID and Unrest R300 million programme in partnership with the Tshikululu Trust and Anglo American Platinum

Expanded capabilities to include sustainability and ESG advisory services

2021

Partnered with SADAG to form NPOwer, a support helpline to deal with post-pandemic mental health and trauma issues for people in the non-profit sector
Partnered with Alliance Asset Management to form the impact investing platform, Thrive Africa
Contracted to provide programme management, monitoring and reporting support services to the government’s Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Response Fund launched in February. (GBVF)