The value of mobility

AN ENTREPRENEUR needs to reach a customer. A traveller needs to discover a destination. A business needs to keep its people and operations connected. The understanding of how a mobility company creates value increasingly shapes how Avis Southern Africa approaches responsible business. Our priorities span road and customer safety, youth employability, support for small businesses, environmental responsibility and partnerships that strengthen the communities in which we operate. Across Zeda, the operator of the Avis brand in South Africa, R764 million was spent with local SMMEs, while youth development initiatives continue to support employability. Environmental interventions have included solar installations at five East London sites and a waste- management partnership with Mpact. These sit alongside a sustainable finance framework that links funding to measurable priorities including renewable energy, water efficiency and SMME development. Road safety offers another practical example. Avis SafeDrive forms part of our customer offering, while our role as mobility partner to the Discovery Pothole Patrol extends that concern for safer journeys across Johannesburg. Since the programme’s inception in 2021, more than 350 000 potholes have been repaired. The initiative also supports 40 young South Africans within its patrol teams, creating opportunities to develop practical skills and access sustainable employment. Pothole Patrol brings together private-sector and public-sector capabilities around a shared need. Mobility allows economic activity to travel with people – to accommodation providers, restaurants, attractions and small enterprises that form part of the experience. Where does our business already touch people’s lives, and what more can we responsibly make possible there? That question asks us to look at the roads we travel, the businesses we buy from, the people we employ and develop, the destinations our customers visit, and the communities through which they move. For Avis, moving with purpose begins there.