RS South Africa has partnered with the StartWell Foundation through the Inqolobane Investment Trust to help combat childhood stunting and improve educational outcomes for vulnerable learners in South Africa.

The partnership will see nearly 80 000 nutrient-dense meals provided to approximately 360 children in Orange Farm and Mamelodi ( over the course of a year. Each child will receive a daily serving of StartWell KIDS, a ready-to-eat, nutritionally complete breakfast meal rich in high-quality protein and other essential nutrients that support healthy growth, cognitive development and school readiness.

The initiative forms part of RS South Africa’s broader commitment to creating meaningful social impact by addressing barriers that prevent young people from reaching their full potential.

Addressing critical challenges facing South African learners

“Our decision to partner with StartWell through the Inqolobane Investment Trust is rooted in our commitment to addressing the critical challenges facing South African learners,” says Brian Andrew, Managing Director of RS South Africa.

Through StartWell’s work in these communities, it became clear that many learners were not growing as they should for their age, an early indicator of childhood stunting. While the difference in height may appear small, it reflects months or even years of inadequate nutrition during one of the most important stages of physical and brain development.  Unlike weight, which can fluctuate over short periods, a child's height reflects long-term nutritional wellbeing. When children stop growing as expected, it is often a sign that their bodies have not received the nutrients needed to support healthy development.

Opportunity to address a root cause of educational inequality

Andrew explains that a chance meeting with Org van der Wath, Founder and Executive Director of StartWell Foundation, at the World Nutrition Summit in Cape Town in 2025 revealed an opportunity to address one of the root causes of educational inequality.

"We gained valuable insight into StartWell’s innovative approach: not merely supplying food but providing learners with nutrient-dense meals containing high-quality, bioavailable protein and other essential nutrients that support healthy growth, brain development and immune function. These nutrients are often lacking in many traditional feeding programmes. Their solution addresses one of the root causes of stunting and offers a promising pathway to help learners grow, thrive and reach their full potential,” says Andrew.

According to van der Wath, the partnership will have a direct impact on hundreds of children who face chronic malnutrition and limited access to quality nutrition during their critical developmental years. “This partnership has the chance to be a total game-changer for each additional chronically malnourished child we reach.”

Creating meaningful, measurable socio-economic impact in communities

Van der Wath adds: “It brings vital proteins and other nutrients at the start of every school day. Beyond the physical meals, it also carries an important message about the critical role that high quality, animal-sourced foods play in supporting healthy childhood development. Importantly, the programme also helps raise awareness that childhood stunting is largely preventable. Many caregivers remain unaware that inadequate nutrition during a child's earliest years can have lifelong consequences that cannot easily be reversed later in life. Combined with advocacy and awareness initiatives, this programme has a strong opportunity to create meaningful and measurable socio-economic impact in the communities we serve.”

The programme will provide about 220 meals per child a year, helping to address severe child malnutrition and growth stunting linked to inadequate access to high-quality protein during early childhood.

For RS South Africa, the partnership aligns closely with the organisation's environmental, social and governance (ESG) priorities, particularly its focus on empowering young people and strengthening communities.

Addressing a fundamental barrier to learning and development

“By supporting StartWell through the Inqolobane Investment Trust, we are investing in a solution that helps address a fundamental barrier to learning and development: childhood stunting,” highlights Andrew. “In doing so, we are extending our contribution beyond access to education and mobility, and into the nutritional wellbeing that enables young people to learn, grow and participate more fully in society.”

Andrew adds that the partnership reflects RS’s commitment to supporting practical, evidence-based interventions that deliver measurable community benefits. “What excites me most about this partnership is the opportunity to make a meaningful difference at such an early and important stage in a child’s life. When children receive the right nutritional support early on, the benefits can extend far beyond health alone—they can influence learning, confidence, development and future opportunity.”

Van der Wath believes the collaboration will create a foundation for long-term impact. “By combining RS’s support with Inqolobane’s structured empowerment model, we can sustainably increase meal production, improve nutritional outcomes and build stronger, more resilient community programmes for lasting reduction in child stunting,” he says.

Strengthen collaboration across education and health sectors

The partnership also creates opportunities to expand StartWell’s reach, strengthen collaborations across the education and health sectors, and develop innovative approaches to supporting at-risk children across South Africa.

Together, RS South Africa, the Inqolobane Investment Trust and the StartWell Foundation are helping ensure that more children begin each school day with the nutrition they need to learn, grow and build brighter futures.

RS South Africa is a trading brand of RS Group plc (LSE: RS1) and a leading provider of industrial product and service solutions.