By Victoria Möller
I often say that I have the best job. As Capricorn Group’s Communications and Stakeholder Engagement Manager, I see firsthand how partnerships, resources and people come together to create positive change. I sometimes joke that I get to spend money and make people happy.
It usually earns a smile because there is some truth in it. Through Capricorn ChangeMakers, our employee volunteer programme, and our broader social impact initiatives, I see resources reach organisations addressing real needs, while employees discover how much they can contribute.
I have always known that the value of this work extends far beyond funding. What makes it meaningful is seeing the impact on people, employees and beneficiaries alike.
At our projects, I ask ChangeMakers what surprised them, what moved them and what they will take back to work.
Their reflections challenge me to create more meaningful opportunities for employees to serve, and to connect our resources and partners with the needs that matter most.
Whenever we invite colleagues to donate or volunteer, they respond with remarkable generosity.
Boxes arrive, volunteer lists fill up and colleagues ask what else is needed. It is a reminder that giving is not only about money. It is also about offering time, energy and what we often call sweat equity.
That is the purpose of ChangeMakers. It turns Capricorn Group’s purpose, Connectors of Positive Change, into lived behaviour by bringing leaders and employees together in service that protects dignity, strengthens relationships and creates practical value for communities.
A year of purpose in action
The past year demonstrated the many forms that service can take. At the SPCA’s Purpose for Paws event, more than 30 ChangeMakers painted, cleaned and repaired facilities, and donated essential supplies.
Their work supported both the animals and the people who care for them every day.
At the Garden of Hope at Windhoek Central Mental Health Hospital, employees worked with government partners and donors to create therapeutic and sensory garden spaces, install beds, and plant fruit and vegetables.
The garden provides fresh produce while supporting rehabilitation and a renewed sense of belonging and purpose.
During the Children’s Christmas event at the coast, ChangeMakers helped create three days of joy for 300 vulnerable children, including children with disabilities.
Employees organised a gift drive to ensure that every child received a present. The message was simple and clear: every child deserves to feel valued and included.
At Golden Hills Primary School in Havana, more than 700 learners were studying in temporary tents after severe flooding displaced families.
ChangeMakers helped mobilise a converted shipping container for office and storage space, while business and education partners contributed materials, transport, branding and expertise.
The projects differed, but the principle remained the same. We listened to those closest to the need and brought together employees, partners and resources to shape a practical response.
Our role was not to take ownership of the solution, but to support the right people in solving the problem together.
How service creates value
When a special cause is raised, we sometimes hear that charity begins at home and that companies should first support employees in need. It is a fair challenge.
An organisation that speaks about dignity in the community must ensure that its own people experience dignity, fairness and care.
Caring for employees and communities is not a competing responsibility. Care should travel both inward and outward.
Employee volunteerism also gives something back to the organisation. Money can be transferred from a distance, but time asks us to be present.
Employees may arrive believing they are there to give, yet leave with a deeper understanding of others, a renewed sense of perspective and an opportunity for personal growth.
It also changes how we experience leadership. At a project site, leadership is not expressed through a title, but through a willingness to serve.
Even our Chief Executive Officer does not stand back when hands-on work is needed. He rolls up his sleeves and works alongside employees.
This is servant leadership in practice: influence demonstrated through action rather than position. It also creates space for others to lead.
Employees at every level contribute their skills, take initiative and support one another in pursuit of a shared goal.
Research reinforces what we observe. A 2022 study by Jeffrey Pfeffer, Sara Singer and Martin Stepanek analysed more than 50,000 responses to Britain’s Healthiest Workplace survey.
It found an association between employee volunteering, stronger bonds with colleagues and a greater sense of identification with employers. That finding resonates with what we see when ChangeMakers serve together.
Culture is shaped not only by what leaders say, but by what we repeatedly choose to do together.
Through ChangeMakers, colleagues across roles and levels serve side by side, listen to communities and witness generosity, initiative and humanity in one another.
These shared experiences strengthen empathy, collaboration and belonging, behaviours that employees carry back into the workplace.
In this way, our employees make our purpose as Connectors of Positive Change credible. They bring it to life because we practise it together.
Over time, I have come to realise that programmes such as ChangeMakers create value in ways that cannot always be measured on a balance sheet.
They build trust. They show stakeholders who we are when no one is asking us to prove it.
They ensure that our purpose as Connectors of Positive Change is experienced, not merely communicated. In doing so, they strengthen the credibility, reputation and brand equity that support Capricorn Group’s long-term success.
Where purpose becomes credibility
Stakeholder engagement starts long before storytelling. It begins with listening, understanding needs and building genuine connections.
Communication should illuminate impact while respecting the dignity and agency of the people involved.
After a year of serving alongside community organisations, our Heroes’ Day celebration became a natural culmination: an opportunity for the Group to recognise these often-unseen heroes.
With deep gratitude, we turned to the grassroots leaders who show up every day and said thank you. We did not make them heroes by recognising them. Their service had already done that.
ChangeMakers is not only about what Capricorn Group does for communities. It is one of the ways we become the organisation we say we are. We are grateful for every open hand and every open heart, from leaders and employees to partners and community heroes, that chooses to serve.
For us, positive change begins where dignity, shared responsibility and a willingness to show up come together.
*Victoria Möller is Manager: Group Communication and Stakeholder Engagement at Capricorn Group. A Chartered Public Relations Practitioner (CPRP), she brings more than two decades of experience in communications, marketing and reputation management. Her work focuses on building stakeholder trust and connecting employees with the Group’s purpose as Connectors of Positive Change. A key part of her role is the ChangeMakers employee volunteer programme, through which she creates opportunities for colleagues to serve communities and practise that purpose together. She writes from her experience of how communication, partnerships and employee participation strengthen organisational culture and create social value.
