Our Purpose
Stewardship, sustainability and long-term value
Abagold was established to farm abalone responsibly — protecting a species once threatened by over-harvesting.
Why we farm
Part of a global shift toward sustainable aquaculture
Today, Abagold is part of a global shift toward sustainable aquaculture — farming a valuable marine resource in a way that respects the environment and supports the broader seafood ecosystem.
We operate with integrity and responsibility toward our employees, our partners and the communities in which we operate and to which we supply, recognising the cultural, social and economic significance of abalone across many communities, countries and cultures.
Our commitment to sustainable practices aligns with international standards for responsible seafood production, helping ensure this prized species thrives for generations to come.
Community Development
Committed to a bright future
We believe in supporting education. A strong educational foundation underpins success at school, the ability to study further and the prospect of employment. By investing in early childhood education, we are enabling the development of our youth while contributing directly to the socio-economic health of our community and the greater Hermanus area.
Abagold Early Childhood Development
Abagold has committed to the establishment of an Early Childhood Development Centre for the children of all its employees — an integrated, multi-lingual centre that will also support other ECD centres in Zwelihle and Mount Pleasant.
Help us create a healthy future for our children, our communities and our economy.
Coronation Double Century Tour 2017
Riding for Childhood Development
Enterprise Development
AquaWomen — an enterprise grown from our own
Development sometimes means letting a business go. In September 2017, Abagold's basket-making division in Hermanus became AquaWomen (Pty) Ltd — an independent, majority employee-owned company created to uplift and empower its long-standing staff on a sustainable basis, with shares held in their own hands.
From its Hermanus workshop, AquaWomen supplies sustainable, quality and environmentally friendly abalone baskets to producers across the Western Cape, with a vision of becoming the region's leading provider of aquaculture support services and products — and a commitment to enriching its community and upskilling its youth. It is a partner initiative we are proud to stand behind.
Discover their work at aquawomen.co.za
Abagold Development Trust
Upliftment across the greater Hermanus area
The Abagold Development Trust was established in 2010, when the founders of Abagold resolved to support and uplift the communities where most of its employees live and raise their children — Zwelihle, Mount Pleasant and Hawston. The Trust focuses on education, training, development and job creation, including for people living with disabilities.
The Trust's funding mandate centres on education — from Early Childhood Development through high school to tertiary study. Beneficiaries are identified and approved each year at the sole discretion of the Trustees, and funding is allocated to individuals as well as non-profit organisations.
The Abagold Development Trust is a registered Public Benefit Organisation (PBO 930035402).
The Trust has a dedicated home online — visit abagolddevelopmenttrust.co.za.
Programmes & beneficiaries
Where the Trust's support goes
The Trust partners with organisations across the Overstrand that share its vision — several of them funded on a sustained basis over many years, a continuity that deepens the impact of every rand.
Foster care
Izibusiso Foster Homes
A small, intimate foster home and place of safety whose Xhosa name means "blessings". Begun as a joint venture between Hermanus Child Welfare and the United Church, and independent since June 2021, Izibusiso surrounds orphaned, abandoned and vulnerable babies and young children with love — a House Mother and a team of dedicated volunteers caring for them until adoptive "forever" homes are found.
Tertiary pathways
Sparkle Kids & the Overstrand Learning Hub
Founded by Theo and Angie Krynauw, Sparkle Kids has carried many young people from disadvantaged communities through to graduation with the Trust's support. Its next chapter, the Overstrand Learning Hub, focuses on job-linked teaching qualifications — B Ed, Higher Certificate in ECD and PGCE. In 2023 the Trust sponsored four B Ed students and covered university registration and start-up costs for four matriculants from Qhayiya Secondary School in Zwelihle.
Arts & enterprise
Hermanus Visual Art and Design Centre
A registered non-profit in Hawston offering art experiences to primary and secondary school learners — from art therapy to art as a foundation for entrepreneurship — with post-matric experience for aspiring art teachers and graphic designers. The Trust's first grant to HVAD funds a five-week youth-entrepreneurial collaboration with the OAPD craft workshop, building product-design and business skills aimed at the tourism market.
Disability inclusion
Overstrand Association for Persons with Disabilities
A partnership dating back to 2018, in support of the Trust's mandate to promote skills development and job creation for people with disabilities. The Trust backs OAPD's workshop in Hawston, where trained crafters turn abalone shells supplied by Abagold into hand-crafted products — alongside stipends for new recruits, skills training and employment for young adults, and sponsorship of children in special-needs education.
Environmental education
Whale Coast Conservation's Education Programme
Whale Coast Conservation has protected the Overberg's extraordinary natural environment — heartland of the fynbos biome and the Cape Floral Kingdom — for two decades. The Trust supports its Youth Environment Programme, whose hands-on expos of five learning stations bring the Life Sciences curriculum to life, in three Hermanus primary schools: Lukhanyo, Zwelihle and Mount Pleasant.
Youth development
Sustainable Futures Holiday Programme
A relationship reaching back to 2012, when the Trust helped lay out irrigation for a vegetable garden at the Hermanus Waldorf School. Today it funds the school-holiday programme launched in 2022: four-day camps for Grade 6 girls from Mount Pleasant School, building self-confidence and social, communication and leadership skills — welcomed by the girls, their parents and their teachers alike.
Early childhood
Enlighten Education Trust
Funded by the Trust since 2015, Enlighten places early childhood development at the heart of its work — training ECD practitioners, running a School Readiness Support Programme for parents, helping educare centres achieve registration, and operating book and toy libraries alongside a model ECD classroom. Together with Abagold staff, the Trust is helping identify and upgrade ECD centres in need.
Aftercare
Just Care
Established in May 2015 to offer aftercare for 30 to 40 children — and enrolling 122 within three days. Supported by the Trust since 2016, Just Care feeds children, supervises homework and teaches sport and life skills every afternoon, now focused on Grade R and Foundation Phase learners from two communities where parents' fees and a small government subsidy alone cannot cover the running costs.
Education funding
Bursaries
The Trust awards bursaries on academic merit and financial need. At secondary level it supports learners at public fee-paying schools, where strong schooling paves the way to tertiary study. At tertiary level it provides partial funding for Hermanus-based students — including a living-expense stipend that tops up an NSFAS grant — with shortlisted candidates interviewed before recommendations go to the Board.
Trustees
A board of company and community
From its founding the Trust was structured so that its Board of Trustees represents both Abagold and the local communities it serves.
Anisha Archary
Trustee
Former HR Director of Old Mutual, where she was instrumental in the company achieving Top Employer status in South Africa and thirteen countries across the continent. Her career spans financial services, aviation and retail; in 2022 she was appointed a non-executive director of Abagold Limited.
Enver Manchest
Trustee
A Chartered Accountant with 19 years' experience, most of it in senior financial management. He joined Abagold as Chief Financial Officer in 2018 and was appointed to the Abagold Board as Financial Director in 2020.
Morris Tshabalala
Trustee
Long-serving principal of Lukhanyo Primary School in Zwelihle. He has sat on the boards of several local educational NGOs, is a Trustee of The Overberg Community Trust, and has served in local, provincial and national structures of the South African Football Association.
Jenny Sauls
Trustee
A long-time resident of Mount Pleasant in Hermanus and Head of the Lombardi Centre for the Aged. A community activist with a particular passion for cultural preservation, she works to involve young people through projects such as the Indigenous Games initiative.
Evelyn Mabhunu
Trustee
A social entrepreneur and Trustee of the Old Mutual Imfundo Trust. A BA graduate of Fort Hare University, she has completed the Social Entrepreneurship Programme at GIBS and the System Change and Social Impact Programme at UCT's Graduate School of Business.
Elaine Davie
Liaison Officer
Employed by the Trust to co-ordinate its engagement with community partners and Abagold employees.
Get involved
Join the Trust's work
The Trust's work is sustained by donations from companies and individuals — among them Abagold's directors in their private capacity. To donate, partner or learn more about its programmes, visit the Trust's website.
Visit abagolddevelopmenttrust.co.zaReports and publications
Read about the good work we do in our yearly reports and publications.
Luvo Maranti Arts Scholarship
Helping a young artist realise their dream
Established in 2022 by Luvo Maranti, a young tenor from Zwelihle in the Overstrand, and administered by the Abagold Development Trust, the scholarship seeks out one arts student from the wider Overstrand community each year and supports their studies at post-secondary level.
Discover the scholarshipPartner with us in building a bright future
To learn more about the Abagold Development Trust, funding applications or our community programmes, we would love to hear from you.
Contact us