For over a decade, FutureMakers, Telkom's flagship enterprise and supplier development (ESD) programme, has created stakeholder value and delivered social impact through digital inclusion, skills development and community investment. Our longterm ESD investment in FutureMakers is strategic, as it supports innovation, commercial integration, capacity building and ecosystem development.
Strategic focus areas
FY2026 achievements
Diversify our supply chain and sales value chain (such as dealers) and accelerate innovation in the technology sector, focusing on SMMEs (FutureMakers). This helps to mitigate supply chain risks
Digital skills development
Impact lives through ICT integrations in schools, providing academic support, psychosocial support and digital skills
Supporting B-BBEE
External moderate assurance on selected sustainability indicators. Refer to the FY2026 Independent Assurance Report, available online.
1 Total ESD spend includes business support expenditure (R33 million) and total outstanding finance (R230 million) provided to SMMEs.
For decades, Telkom has been at the forefront of building strategic infrastructure, connecting people and developing networks that have linked homes, businesses and communities across the country. Today, we are doing even more. We are investing in intelligent networks, cloud, data, and AI to help businesses scale and compete while positioning Telkom as South Africa's digital backbone and a catalyst for inclusive growth.
Last year, we marked 10 years of Telkom FutureMakers. Through this ESD initiative, Telkom has supported more than 2 632 small and emerging enterprises over the last decade, enabled over R709.3 million in opportunities across Telkom's value chain, and helped sustain more than 74 114 jobs across the country. FutureMakers contributes to the people pillar of our Sustainability Strategy by developing and investing in a new generation of black-owned, high-growth enterprises that create the most jobs and economic outcomes in society.
| Life cycle | Focus areas | |
| Telkom Township Innovation Incubator | ||
| An 18-month structured innovation and digital skills training programme with software development support. |
Seed and development life cycle |
Enterprise development innovation |
| Hackathons and incubation | ||
| 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. | Seed and development life cycle | Enterprise development innovation |
| ICT Venture Builder with Aions | ||
| A scale-up programme fusing equity investment and business development support. The aim is to scale up tech start-ups by removing blockages in their development path and making them venture capital ready. | Early stage (start-up) life cycle | Enterprise development innovation |
| Women in ICT Pre-Accelerator | ||
| The I'M IN Women Pre-Accelerated Programme develops female ICT entrepreneurs using a progressive elaboration process. The programme graduated 10 young women from previously disadvantaged backgrounds and aims to progress them to an accelerator in FY2027. | Early stage (start-up) life cycle | Enterprise development innovation |
| AI Growth Catalyst programme | ||
| A bespoke tech enablement programme to equip a select cohort of start-ups with AI readiness capabilities to accelerate growth. | Growth ICT start-ups | Emerging tech adoption and growth |
| TrailblazeHer | ||
| An accelerator curated to support women-owned SMMEs in the ICT sector with coaching, mentorship and access to market opportunities. | Women in ICT accelerator | Women and growth |
| Mentorship programme and business development support services | ||
| An annual structured programme customised for Telkom’s suppliers to increase their business growth and provide business development support. | Later stage (growth, establishment and expansion) | Supplier development, diverse supply chains and localisation |
| Direct support services per business unit | ||
| Ad hoc material, marketing, and grant support to SMME suppliers per business unit (Gyro, Telkom Consumer and Openserve). | Later stage (growth, establishment and expansion) | Supplier development, diverse supply chains and localisation |
| Early payment days | ||
| Payment of invoices within seven to 14 days for all FutureMakers-approved SMMEs. | Later stage (growth, establishment and expansion) | Supplier development, diverse supply chains and localisation |
| BCX SMME Subcontractor Programme | ||
| Partnering of BCX and SMMEs when responding to clients through subcontracting. | Later stage (growth, establishment and expansion) | Supplier development, diverse supply chains and localisation |
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. A new SMME investment vehicle is set to be established in FY2027 that will carry a new mandate over and above ESD.
Aions: ICT Venture Builder
Established in FY2023 with a commitment of R240 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.
Supplier Development Funder
Established in FY2023 with R100 million over five years depending on business performance. Provides capital to SMMEs in Telkom's supply chain that are part of FutureMakers.
Lives impacted
Funding and technical mentorship opportunities remain a key challenge for the long-term sustainability of our SMMEs. The Telkom Procurement and FutureMakers teams joined forces to host a Supplier Day during Global Entrepreneurship Week to accelerate access to markets for SMMEs.
Employees continue to serve as transformation ambassadors in a shared commitment to nurture FutureMakers SMMEs and incorporate them into our supply chain.
The Telkom Foundation seeks to produce a cadre of young people who are resilient, future‑fit and empowered to meaningfully participate in the economy.
The Foundation continued to provide social impact programmes in academic support, ICT integration, teacher development, bursary support, psychosocial support, digital skills development, and employee volunteering programmes. The Foundation invested R72.8 million (including administration costs) (FY2025: R68.3 million). Of this, R39.9 million was invested in education, R20.9 million in digital skills, and R4.3 million in social development programmes.
The Foundation invested over R7.4 million in 51 bursaries and settled historical debt for nearly 100 students through the bursary education programme. The programme unlocks economic opportunities, promotes social equity and bridges skills gaps.
Over the past three years, the Telkom Foundation's five-year strategy has become a cornerstone of Telkom's commitment to transform education in South Africa. The Foundation has consistently improved the quality of education through supplementary tuition, psychosocial support, ICT skills integration, digital skills training and targeted teacher development.
Since the strategy rollout, over 135 462 learners have benefited from supplementary tuition, resulting in an average matric pass rate of 90%, with 36% achieving university entrance. Over 1 007 083 learners, teachers and community members have received psychosocial support, equipping them with mental and social resilience skills.
The Foundation's strategy reflects a long-term commitment to socio-economic development (SED). The Foundation has invested over R215 million in SED programmes over the past three years.
The Telkom Centres of Excellence (CoE) Programme strengthens Telkom's research and innovation capability while developing a pipeline of skilled technology talent aligned with the Group's future priorities.
In FY2026, the CoE Programme supported 258 postgraduate researchers, including 101 PhD candidates, 140 master's students, 10 honours students and seven postdoctoral fellows, helping to develop advanced digital and engineering capabilities relevant to Telkom's technology landscape.
The programme's commissioned research initiative enables Telkom to leverage specialist expertise within the CoEs to support internal innovation and technology development projects. This translates academic research into solutions that address strategic business challenges.
The Telkom-NRF FutureTech Programme has invested R6 million in research across leading South African universities to accelerate technologies that directly support Telkom's future network capabilities, AI-driven services, and emerging digital solutions.
External moderate assurance on selected sustainability indicators. Refer to the FY2026 Independent Assurance Report, available online.
We continued to strengthen enterprise and supplier development, skills development and employment equity, as reflected in our B-BBEE performance.
Telkom retained its Level 1 B-BBEE contributor status, maintaining strong performance across the majority of the scorecard elements and demonstrating its continued commitment to transformation.
BCX achieved a Level 2 B-BBEE contributor status, compared with Level 1 in the prior year. While the change reflects the impact of restructuring, BCX improved its performance in enterprise and supplier development, demonstrating its ongoing commitment to advancing transformation and supporting local suppliers.