search icon

Sage Foundation programmes

Sage Foundation is engaged in a range of development programmes that provide support and funding to non-profits.

Pathways back to work

Sage Pathways is a support, development, training, and recruitment programme designed to help people enter the workplace or return to work. The Pathways model delivers a series of work-readiness sessions covering interview tips, assessment centre skills, personal branding, and returning to work with confidence. We have delivered four programmes, including virtual work readiness events in South Africa, the UK, and North America. Of the 172 attendees, more than 70% were women. In South Africa, we hired 13 people living with disabilities within our customer services and finance operations.
Find out more

FIRST LEGO League

To ensure the next generation has the right skills for the digital economy, we need to focus on developing STEM skills in young people. We have a longstanding partnership with FIRST LEGO League, a programme that challenges young people aged four to 16, to build robots using LEGO bricks and components.
Read the FIRST LEGO League case study

$5 Million Fundraising Challenge

Since the start of our journey to support local non-profits through fundraising, Sage Foundation has worked with colleagues, business partners, customers, and the community to raise over $3 million to support more than 1,000 charitable causes. We launched the $5 Million by 2030 Challenge to not only raise more than ever but to help those who need it most. Over the past seven years, our community of fundraisers have walked, cycled, run, climbed, and hiked hundreds of thousands of kilometres to raise money for non-profits and causes close to their hearts.
Find out more

Case studies

These are just some of the projects that Sage Foundation is honoured to support:

People living with disabilities are excluded from career opportunities through barriers such as discrimination, bias, unequal access, and a physical workplace environment and work tools that are not accessible. Our global Sage Pathways programme breaks through these barriers and helps people living with disabilities get into or return to work. 

Specific initiatives include virtual work readiness sessions to engage people living with disabilities from different communities. These sessions encompass training in interview tips, assessment centre skills, personal branding, and returning to work with confidence. In these sessions, we have identified potential talent to bring into our business and other skills development programmes. 

We collaborate with specialist recruitment organisations and Sage Foundation charity partners to specifically target people living with disabilities for Pathways events. In South Africa, we have recruited 13 interns living with disabilities within our customer services and finance operations. This programme enabled us to reach some amazing but overlooked talent. 

“I have enjoyed my experience at Sage. My colleagues are extremely welcoming and have shown interest in who I am and where I have come from. Sage’s commitment to supporting people living with disabilities shines through every day at work. It has not only offered me a job, but also provided me with the tools and skills to excel in my career.” – Kerry Walsh, Communication Specialist, Customer Services intern 

We have also created higher awareness in our workplace about the barriers people living with disabilities face at work. We are creating an environment in which colleagues with disabilities know they are valued and supported. 

“Sage has offered deep, individual engagement and support throughout this journey. I’m really enjoying the opportunity to collaborate with wonderful colleagues in a business that is genuinely committed to inclusion. The Sage Pathways programme is an industry-changer that has opened a world of possibilities for me.” – Trevor Sephiri, Financial Operations intern

Elricco Govindasamy, a finance business partner at Sage Africa and Middle East, is competing in seven cycle races covering more than 662 kilometres to create awareness about retinitis pigmentosa, a group of eye-related disorders that cause vision loss. The funds will be donated to Retina South Africa, a patient-led, registered non-profit with a mission of finding a cure for Retinitis Pigmentosa. 

Elricco is embarking on this epic journey as part of the Sage Foundation $5 Million Challenge. To train for the races, Elricco is cycling more than 120 kilometres a week, with the aim of improving his average speed by one kilometre an hour over each race. His target through this fundraising is to raise R50,000 (about US$3,400) in 2022 for the cause. 

“Some individuals go to bed with poor eyesight and wake up partially or fully blind the next morning. I want to be one of the activists who give hope to children robbed of a sensory-filled childhood and adults who have conceded to defeat and the darkness around them.” – Elricco Govindasamy, finance business partner

Give Feedback