GRI 102 - Capricorn Group: A journey to a data-driven materiality process

About Capricorn Group

Capricorn Group is a diversified financial services provider headquartered in Windhoek, Namibia, with operations spanning banking, insurance, asset management, microlending, property development, and a growing footprint in Botswana. Guided by its purpose of being connectors of positive change, the Group serves as a key financial intermediary for individuals, businesses, and communities, employing over 2,000 people. Established in 1982, Capricorn Group was listed on the Namibia Securities Exchange (NSX) in 2013, and has become a leading regional brand with a 43-year track record of growth and resilience.

Recognising Namibia’s acute climate vulnerabilities and the region’s growing focus on energy transition, the Group acknowledges the financial sector’s pivotal role in enabling a just and sustainable economy. Its sustainability journey, driven through a lens of materiality, has evolved into strategic integration, embedding environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles across all business lines.

Reporting background

The Group has been progressively aligning its sustainability and climate-related initiatives with leading international standards. Through its multi-year Sustainability Integration Programme (SIP), Capricorn Group has established a coherent internal framework to guide sustainability reporting and disclosure.

Although a formal Sustainability Report has not yet been published, the Group continues to align its practices with various voluntary standards, including GRI Standards, frameworks, and guidelines to strengthen governance, data management, and performance tracking across entities. The GRI Standards were particularly useful in providing a structured approach to identifying and prioritising material topics.

In parallel, the Group is continuously engaging with key stakeholders, such as regulators in Namibia and Botswana, to ensure that emerging national disclosure requirements are incorporated into its broader reporting approach.

The context 

In 2022, sustainability was formally established as a strategic choice for Capricorn Group, representing a deliberate shift from isolated initiatives to systemic ESG integration.

In the context of ESG reporting, materiality refers to identifying the sustainability issues most relevant to an organisation’s stakeholders, impact, financial performance, and regulatory environment. It is the process through which a company determines what truly matters, where its activities intersect most meaningfully with societal expectations, environmental pressures, and long-term value creation.  

The challenge 

For Capricorn Group, the objective was twofold: first, to define what sustainability means for a diversified financial group operating in a developing economy; and second, to translate that definition into actionable insights that could inform both strategy and reporting.

This process involved:

• Assessing and defining the Group’s overall ESG maturity level.
• Determining the most relevant metrics for ongoing measurement and reporting.
• Identifying the most material sustainability-related impacts, risks and opportunities (ISROs) and mapping them across the value chain.
• Establishing data systems capable of supporting future alignment with leading international standards.

These processes required close coordination across multiple entities, each operating in different market contexts while ensuring strong Board-level oversight and the integration of sustainability objectives into the Group’s core business strategy and decision-making processes.

The approach

Sustainability Integration Programme

To advance its sustainability ambition, Capricorn Group launched the Sustainability Integration Programme (SIP), a group-wide initiative designed to embed sustainability into strategic and operational processes. The Programme is structured into five sub-programmes focusing on:

1.  Environmental Risk Management,

2. Sustainability-Related Opportunities

3.  Decarbonisation

4. Own Environmental Footprint, and

5. Shared Infrastructure.

Collectively, these sub-programmes provide the foundation for embedding ESG considerations into core business practices. In 2025, the Group expanded this effort through further alignment with evolving global standards, including the GRI Standards, while ensuring that double materiality remained grounded in its industry and regional context.

IFRS S1 and S2 Gap Analysis

This assessment, undertaken to support progressive alignment with the GRI Standards, IFRS S1 and S2, and other leading frameworks, identified both strong foundations and targeted areas for enhancement.

Key gaps relate to the articulation of the financial implications of sustainability-related risks and opportunities, the quantification and integration of climate risk into decision-making, and alignment with national priorities, including supporting the countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) where appropriate.

Value chain analysis

An internal workshop was facilitated with multidisciplinary teams to map upstream and downstream activities.

This process enabled Capricorn Group to identify key physical, transition, and organizational risks, including climate-related credit exposures, regulatory uncertainty, and data and capacity constraints. It also helped highlight sustainability opportunities that can enhance resilience, drive innovation, and support long-term value creation.

The result

These initiatives have strengthened Capricorn Group’s governance, risk management, data infrastructure, and internal capacity, creating the institutional foundation needed to embed sustainability across operations.

Collectively, they have positioned the Group to translate double materiality insights into structured, and forward-looking disclosures that align with global best practice while reflecting its unique regional context.

Through the double materiality process, Capricorn Group has established a strong foundation for aligning purpose with performance, positioning the organisation to meet the evolving expectations of investors, regulators, and society.

Lessons learnt

Capricorn Group’s experience demonstrates that sustainability integration is a journey of translation, from intent to awareness, and ultimately to action.

Several insights emerged:

• Context matters: Materiality cannot be replicated from global frameworks; it must be tailored to regional realities, national priorities, and the dynamics of each sector.
• Leadership alignment drives momentum: Strategic commitment from the Board and executive leadership has been essential in embedding sustainability into governance, culture, and decision-making.
• Collaboration accelerates learning: Engaging cross-functional teams created shared ownership and practical understanding of how sustainability impacts the business model.
• Data readiness is strategic: Developing ESG data systems is more than a compliance requirement. Transparency on climate-related impacts increases stakeholder trust, enhances strategic intelligence, risk management, and long-term value creation.
• Start before you’re “ready”: Sustainability progress is inherently iterative. Each reporting cycle refines data, strengthens systems, and builds both capacity and credibility over time.

Conclusions 

For organisations embarking on similar sustainability journeys, Capricorn Group offers the following recommendations:

• Start with clarity of purpose.
• Adopt a phased approach.
• Integrate, don’t isolate.
• Invest in people and data.
• Learn and adapt.

As sustainability reporting evolves, organisations must regard materiality assessments as strategic instruments for value creation rather than compliance exercises. When treated as a strategic compass, materiality helps companies focus on the sustainability issues that truly influence performance, resilience, and stakeholder trust. By prioritising what truly matters, businesses not only strengthen investor confidence but also position themselves to contribute meaningfully to a more inclusive and sustainable future.