Johannesburg, 02 Jul 2009
Despite the tough economic and trading climate, JSE-listed IT solutions and services company Faritec has maintained its commitment to corporate social investment.
The company's latest project, which involved moving the entire IT infrastructure of the SOS Children's Villages from Randburg to Sandton, through the volunteer efforts of the employees in the Faritec Services division, is a continuation of the ongoing relationship between Faritec and the SOS Children's Villages.
Alma Torlage, Direct Mail and IT Co-ordinator of the SOS Children's Villages, says: “It has been a pleasure to work with the Faritec team. They put all their energy and effort into this project, ensuring we were correctly packed up to move and then reconnecting us in next to no time, allowing us to get on with our work and looking after the children.”
Tara-Anne Yates, Corporate Marketing Manager of Faritec, says: “As ever, it's a privilege to be involved with the SOS Children's Villages. Our relationship began more than three years ago and, with the commitment of SOS top management as well as that of Faritec, we have been able to play a direct role in enriching the organisation as well as the lives of the children it supports.
“By adopting an interactive approach to Corporate Social Investment (CSI) with initiatives like the projects at SOS Children's Villages, Faritec has been able to create synergy between the goals of the local SOS community and our own corporate goals,” she says.
Faritec's contribution to the SOS Children's Villages over the years has included the establishment of computer and information centres at SOS Children's Village in Ennerdale and Mthatha, benefiting the 500 children from the community who attend the SOS school in Mthatha and the 100 children from SOS in Ennerdale.
“From the outset, our goal has been to ensure the continuation and sustainability of the SOS Information Centres in Ennerdale and Mthatha,” Yates says. “The sites are loaded on our call centre system for service calls, and we have agreements with the local IT services providers in the area to provide on-site services where necessary. We also make sure that there are enough consumables for the centres to operate effectively, and conduct annual site visits to monitor progress.”
For the past three years, Faritec has received the maximum score in terms of the social development criteria for broad-based black economic empowerment. The BBBEE scorecard requires companies to spend 1% of profit after tax on social development initiatives; however, when companies go through tough times they tend to cut support to these initiatives.
“Faritec believes in doing social development because it is the right thing to do, not because we are required to because of BBBEE requirements,” Yates points out. “Although we wish we could do more, we currently continue to maintain our commitment to the organisations and communities we support and once the economic climate improves we will look to expand our scope.”
“We will continue to evaluate projects which are in line with our CSI principles, and to support SOS Children's Villages implementations across the country,” Yates says.
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