The National Business Initiative’s (NBI) three-decade history is the focus in this edition of the Business Day Spotlight. Host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Shamila Subramani, CEO of the NBI.Founded in 1995 and launched by former president Nelson Mandela, the NBI is a voluntary, non-mandated, business-led organisation comprising about 100 member companies. Subramani explains it is not the mandated policy voice of business; instead, it acts as an honest, neutral broker between government, business, and civil society.The NBI explicitly focuses its collaborative actions for systemic change across four key pillars: environment, economic inclusion, social transformation and state capacitation. Subramani says the NBI measures success through tangible, practical changes, such as an unemployed youth moving into meaningful work and a small enterprise successfully entering a previously inaccessible value chain.The NBI runs on a blended financial model, with core funding provided by its member companies. The organisation also attracts significant international donor funding for long-term programmes and projects. According to Subramani, the NBI is able to leverage corporate member fees five to six times over by successfully attracting donor funding.The discussion highlights the NBI’s history, funding model, areas of focus, collaborations with public and private sector entities, and case studies of work done. As an example of scalable impact, Subramani highlights the NBI’s climate finance accelerator programme, which enabled 43 green-space businesses to mobilise more than R2bn in investment. Join the discussion: Producer: Demi BuzoBusiness Day Spotlight is an Arena Podcasts production.For more episodes, subscribe to Simplecast