B20 South Africa Integrity Workshop Empowers SMEs to Strengthen Ethical Business Practices

On 13 November 2025, Discovery Group and the B20 South Africa Integrity & Compliance Task Force hosted the Network for Business Integrity (NBI) event, exploring the role of business integrity in restoring trust, fostering inclusive job creation and driving economic growth.

The session explored practical measures companies can adopt to strengthen governance and compliance, with a particular focus on empowering small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Discovery is proud to be at the forefront of this movement, supporting SMEs in developing robust anti-bribery and anti-corruption frameworks through tools such as the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Business Integrity Toolkit for Medium-Sized Enterprises.

Initiated at the Brazil G20 in 2024, the NBI, in association with Transparency International, developed the toolkit to provide practical guidance for SMEs to implement controls for whistle-blowing, conflicts of interest, anti-bribery and corruption. The toolkit formed the foundation of the day’s workshop, providing practical value for the delegates present – but importantly, it is available for any company to access and implement.

As Africa’s largest economy, South Africa plays a key role in driving systemic change. As a co-founding member of the NBI, Discovery reinforced its commitment to integrity as a strategic advantage for sustainable growth, while actively promoting responsible corporate citizenship.

“Integrity is not just a value – it’s a catalyst for resilience, trust, and long-term success,” said Elton Krawitz, Head of Legal at Discovery, and member of the WEF’s Chief Legal Officers forum. “By equipping SMEs with the right tools and frameworks, we can help them overcome ethical challenges such as criminal behaviour inside their businesses and build a more transparent and inclusive business ecosystem.”

Through collective action and strategic partnerships, the focus of the B20 South Africa Integrity & Compliance Task Force is to help SMEs integrate into global supply chains, reduce corruption risks, and enhance their competitiveness.

Discovery’s involvement is driven by its belief that ethical business practices are foundational to economic growth, attracting investment, and social progress. As a proudly South African business, its deep investment in supporting the growth of SMEs is clear through its role in multiple industry collaborations and involvement in organisations such as Endeavor and the SA SME Fund.

Discovery Chief Executive Adrian Gore, as chair of the SA SME Fund, a R1.4 billion fund of funds established by over 50 blue-chip companies and the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), has helped to stimulate entrepreneurship and help create venture capital (VC) as an investable asset class. The fund has scaled and now comprises four funds (including a debt, seed, and VC fund) with R3.3 billion in assets under management, and has leveraged almost R10 billion into early-stage ventures. The fund also supports ecosystem interventions, including accelerators (Grindstone and Endeavor), training fund managers (in collaboration with Southern African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association), and establishing a black associates professional program.

As highlighted by Judit Arenas, Executive Director of global advisory and advocacy firm, APCO, in the opening panel discussion: “Supporting SMEs in South Africa to tackle corruption is critical because it could unlock 20,000 jobs. The power of this is in bringing tangible solutions to the table, giving SMEs access to an expensive resource, helping to make South Africa a competitive place.”

“This is just the beginning. Discovery is committed to playing a leading role in partnering with organisations to train and support more small businesses in embedding ethical practices,” said Stephan Bezuidenhout, Head of Ethics at Discovery. “If we can embed integrity into the fabric of business operations, we can build a legacy of good governance that will benefit future generations.”

In his closing remarks, Barry Swartzberg, co-founder of Discovery and Chair of Endeavor, described ethics as being much more than a choice, and rather a means to survival. “In South Africa, we often talk about the cost of corruption. Real change doesn’t start with policies though, it starts with all of us – the choices we make every day, the way we run our businesses and the example we all set. The only way to grow a business is the ethical way, and this is evidenced by the number of businesses that have successfully scaled through Endeavor.”

“Doing what is right always builds trust – and trust builds everything else. It is not what we sell that defines us; it is who we are,” he concluded.

The B20 South Africa Integrity event marked the first step in establishing a critical network of global companies, SMEs and other actors focused on ethical business, with the intention to grow, collaborate, and share best practices and tackle the systemic challenges prevalent in business. Future events will support and uplift even more SMEs to implement good governance frameworks.