Leading From The Front - Sun International

Responsible CSI and Doing Business The Right Way

By Anthony Leeming, CEO, Sun International

From day one, the Sun International approach has always been to do business the right way.

I am a firm believer in socially responsible capitalism. Without economic growth, we are never going to solve the gamut of social challenges we face. At the same time, we need to be responsible in how we go about achieving it, and responsible in ensuring we are giving back.

The opportunity provided to us as a business comes from our licences, communities, and customers – and this is something we bear in mind in day-to-day operations and is embedded in all our practices. Sustainability is not a choice. It may be tempting to shoot for short-term gains, but you simply can not put a price on cultivating an environment in which all stakeholders flourish.

If you are operating sustainably, you are using fewer resources and if you are looking after communities, you have a more sustainable environment in which to operate. If you are looking after your employees and their well-being, you have a more stable, productive, and happier workplace, and this ultimately spills over to the customer.

A Positive Legacy

South Africa has dealt with the gaming industry in the right way. Casinos have had a major impact on job creation, empowerment, and communities in largely impoverished areas and are a massive source of tax revenue. And the impact is much wider than the casino floor – for instance, as our resorts are entertainment hubs, we uplift a huge number of artistic and service providers. Clearly, the licence comes with a responsibility to our patrons. We spearheaded the national responsible gaming programme 30 years ago and continue to contribute to the initiative in the interests of a safer industry. With responsible practices in place, the good casinos have done in this country far outweigh the handful of negatives.

We are able to build on this legacy of positive impact through our CSI and socio-economic development initiatives and other projects. Annually, we contribute 1% of our net profit after tax) towards socio-economic development across our key focus areas: education, sports, and arts and culture. Our flagship projects include the Arts and Culture Trust Nyoloha Scholarship Programme for 17 to 25-year-old youths to pursue tertiary education in the visual and performance arts and the Eco-schools programme, through which teachers and learners learn how to build environmental resilience in their schools and communities.

As part of our ESG journey, we are committed to reducing our environmental footprint by sending zero waste to landfill and promoting the efficient use of water and electricity. To assist the micro-economies surrounding our properties, we are committed to procuring locally and engaging with black-women-owned businesses. Our human-resources-driven programmes like Christmas Wish and CEO Wish help our employees in times of need and we stand firm as an organisation against gender based violence through our #NOEXCUSES campaign. Again, we have been doing this for a long, long time because it is a part of our DNA, not because of pressure from environmental groups or B-BBEE requirements.

What I feel most proud of is that when we train people, they often go on to bigger things, whether in or outside the group. Seeing people grow, such as Wild Coast Sun GM Peter Tshidi, who began his career as a porter at The Palace, is evidence of the success of our talent pipeline and critical to our success.

An End To The Energy Crisis

The energy crisis is our biggest challenge. It is critical that we take the lead alongside other large corporations to find solutions, otherwise the entire economy will be in jeopardy. It is imperative that we strive to own as much of our electricity production as possible. We are going to be focusing on renewable energy and explore wheeling arrangements, while we continue to help our communities and create jobs. We have started a pilot solar project at Sun City – the R16-million, 1.4MW solar plant produces enough electricity to power 329 households annually – and are pushing for all our big properties to move to solar power and battery storage to reduce the reliance on diesel.

Ultimately, when it comes to sustainability, we are all in this together. Being environmentally friendly and socially responsible should never be seen as a competitive advantage. We should be learning from best practices and each other. If we do not put down a marker and stand side by side for the good of our country right now, there is no telling what kind of issues we may face further down the line.