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Lindi van der Merwe, national leasing manager of Mowana Properties, says its view of community initiatives is to have a percentage of the community operating the various shops in its centres. It assesses how much space it can make up into smaller pockets to bring in the community, or if there is an opportunity for a strong local operator to become a tenant.
Beattie says:“ ESG( environmental, social and governance) is integrated in our business. And sustainability thinking forms part of the way we do business. We drive that through a positive impact agenda and making sure that we maximize the impact of all the initiatives that we take.”
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“ In our approach to community initiatives, firstly we focus on skills development. Currently we’ ve got over 40 students on our bursary programme. We also have 20 graduate interns that are working in various parts of our business. Secondly, we work with various organizations. One of them is Food and Trees for Africa. What we do with this organization is that we help communities and schools to build community gardens, thereby transferring skills to them in agriculture, but also helping with immediate nutritional needs.”
Lindi van der Merwe, national leasing manager of Mowana Properties, says its view of community initiatives is to have a percentage of the community operating the various shops in its centres. It assesses how much space it can make up into smaller pockets to bring in the community, or if there is an opportunity for a strong local operator to become a tenant.
“ One trend that we are seeing in our township malls is that the public services sector is starting to take up more space.”
Clur says business and consumers are engaged in a wellness revolution.“ In fact, wellness has moved beyond a trend. It is now a movement.”
Beattie says:“ ESG( environmental, social and governance) is integrated in our business. And sustainability thinking forms part of the way we do business. We drive that through a positive impact agenda and making sure that we maximize the impact of all the initiatives that we take.”
McCormick says Exemplar finds its township malls are the nexus of the community where people can come and interact. It has seen a huge increase in spend in health and beauty across its portfolio, but also the interest in the communities in health and beauty, and in health.“ There’ s so many aerobics, outdoor yoga, football, netball competitions running now. We’ re seeing a resurgence in the wellness of the individual, as well as the wellness of the community at large.”
50 REI MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2025