#BizUnity: How Liberty Two Degrees is helping co-create a better tomorrow
27 Jul 2020
To help restart the economy and pay it forward, Liberty Two Degrees (L2D) launched its #CreateTomorrow campaign late last month across its retail portfolio, which includes Sandton City, Nelson Mandela Square, Eastgate Shopping Centre, Liberty Midlands Mall and Liberty Promenade, co-owned alongside Liberty Group Limited, and Pareto Limited in the case of Sandton City.
Amelia Beattie, chief executive, Liberty Two Degrees
As part of the campaign, shopping centre co-owners have committed to donating 50% of all shopping centre parking revenue to the OnePeople Fund, an initiative which provides food to vulnerable communities countrywide. Each shopping centre has also embarked on individual impact initiatives within their respective regions.
Paying it forward
"#CreateTomorrow is focused on rebuilding, recreating and forging a new economy while uplifting communities in need," says Amelia Beattie, chief executive of L2D, explaining the goals of the campaign.
"From providing small business with a platform to trade, to paying it forward to those most vulnerable, how we rebound is in our hands."
"This campaign was designed to assist our tenants’ transition into a new normal, and support them and they, too, endeavour to rebuild tomorrow. It was designed as a platform to listen, to collaborate and to pay it forward."
Individual shopping centre initiatives include:
- Sandton City has partnered with the Rays of Hope to provide work for unemployed members of the Alexandra community. It has also partnered with SA Fashion Week to sell designer masks where proceeds go to seamstresses, pattern-makers, designers and fashion students impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Eastgate Shopping Centre, in collaboration with its Farm District, has launched the ‘buy one, donate one’ fresh produce box project. For every mixed box of fresh produce bought, one is donated to the centre’s local soup kitchen.
"We are excited about all of them, naturally," says Beattie, "as all are focused on upliftment and align to our Inclusive Spaces building block which aims to create a feeling of ownership among our communities through sharing social values and promoting health, happiness and well-being."
L2D's five building blocks that guide the organisation's thinking are:
- Smart Spaces – Creating smart environments that integrate technology to enhance customer and tenant experience.
- Immersive Spaces – Creating lively human-centric spaces that bring together customers and experiences to create memorable stories.
- Inclusive Spaces – Creating a feeling of common ownership through sharing of social values and promoting happiness, health and wellbeing.
- On-demand Spaces - Reimagining the physical network.
- Good Spaces - Embracing an agile operating model.
"Our building blocks are all underpinned by Safe Spaces," says Beattie. "Safe Spaces is our focus on the safety of our customers, tenants and service providers in our mall environments. Safe Spaces has never been more relevant, given the current circumstances, and our malls have put various safety measures in place to ensure that our mall environments remain open and trading."
Other #CreateTomorrow initiatives include:
- Liberty Midlands Mall is hosting a collection drive in support of Community Chest, a Pietermaritzburg-based charity which enhances communities and restores hope amongst them.
- Liberty Promenade is uplifting local organisations and schools with outreach programmes to the vulnerable in the Mitchells Plain community.
"#CreateTomorrow is very much an ongoing campaign, because we know rebuilding will take time, and we are in it for as long as it takes.
"The emergence from the lockdown allows us the opportunity to reset, rebuild and redefine what tomorrow looks like. To us, 'Create Tomorrow' means co-creating this new tomorrow filled with new connections, different experiences, refreshed conversations and a restored pride, appreciation and care for our communities, stakeholders and country, while incorporating new and exciting technologies to bring this to life."
About Sindy Peters
Sindy Peters (@sindy_hullaba_lou) is a group editor at Bizcommunity.com on the Construction & Engineering, Energy & Mining, and Property portals. She can be reached at moc.ytinummoczib@ydnis.
