Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing the agricultural sector and it is highly influenced by human population growth. As such, prolonged drought periods, increased temperatures and salinity are expected, and these will have a negative impact on crop yields. To help alleviate the impact and improve crop production, the use of plant growth-promoting bacteria as microbial inoculants is proposed as a sustainable and environmentally conscious approach. This study aims to develop microbial inoculants from actinobacteria isolated from indigenous southern African medicinal plants Aloe ferox and Sutherlandia frutescens and investigate their impact on plant growth and protection under normal and stressed (osmotic and salinity stress) conditions.