I have been as disgruntled as the rest of us when it comes to the poor results of BEE and transformation in South Africa.  It has felt like a horrible tick-boxing excercise to become compliant and make sure we still have access to the opportunities that exist in SA.  At the same time, though, anyone who works with us will know we are a company that holds building South Africa very close to our hearts. 

It hasn’t been until recently that I have realised that the two ideas are compatible….. But I have seen the light!  I suddenly got that the BBBEE framework is an incredible tool for transformation that most of us have not really understood. 

So now I am on the team that helps South Africa understand!

We have joined forces with a company called Africa Empowered (CEO Vuyo Jack), who is wading into the middle of the BEE debate with a vision of becoming the catalyst of real transformation within SA.  Vuyo and his team are focussing on working with strategic partners from South Africa’s key stakeholder communities, (Government, Corporate, Labour and civil society) to address key issues of alignment and integration.  They will deliver ‘on the ground’ solutions that provide insights, skills and access to beneficiary communities, whilst at the same time surfacing local issues and communicating them into the right places.

We’re part of the ‘On the ground’ solutions: we’ll be delivering BEE insights and awareness workshops across the country in true Footprint fashion!  I’m hoping we can reach at least 10 000 folk before the BEE summit in September this year!

Where we’ll focus: The Eyethu Sonke project will be targeting South Africans in 3 different stakeholder communities:

• BEE opportunity beneficiaries: grassroots communities across South Africa in both urban and rural contexts, including potential SME entrepreneurs
• BEE opportunity beneficiaries: corporate workers who could benefit from BEE through skills development and BEE share ownership initiatives, and SME suppliers to corporate and government institutions
• BEE opportunity providers government and corporate management and staff who influence how BEE policy is executed through application of the BBBEE codes (Procurement, Senior Management, Recruitment, CSI and Enterprise Development teams)

The work delivered as part of the Eyethu Sonke initiative is classified as Enterprise Development as it is helping South Africans all along the BEE spectrum to understand the framework and opportunities that exist for Empowerment and Transformation, and then provides opportunities to fulfill skills gaps with appropriate enterprise development training. In this spirit, all funds ceded to Africa Empowered for the purposes of this project will automatically accrue BEE points on the provider’s scorecard. In this way, AE provides a convenient and powerful option for channeling funds in a way that achieves the spirit of BEE at a scale large enough to make a significant impact on the Empowerment landscape, whilst achieving maximum compliance on the BBBEE codes for Enterprise Development.

To our corporate customers who read this blog - connect with me if you feel you are able to participate or contribute in some way - let’s work together to build South Africa, one person at a time.