White ICT industry slammed at Black Achievers ceremony

By Basheera Khan, UK correspondent, ITWeb

Johannesburg, 16 Oct 2000

SA`s black achievers in information and communications technology (ICT) were acknowledged at a gala function held at the Sandton Convention Centre over the weekend.

Telecommunications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, and minister of Public Enterprises Jeff Radebe attended the function, which also played host to a number of SA`s digerati.

The top 20 individual achievers included Andile Ngcaba, director-general of the Department of Communications, Anna Badimo, IT manager of the Eskom Pension Fund, Benjamin Mophatlane, MD of Business Connection, and Zeth Malele, MD of Ariel Technologies.

Advertising company Herdbouys McCann Erikson, Pepreef, holding company of Pep Stores nationwide, and manufacturing company Black Like Me were just some of the enterprises awarded in the category of top 10 black companies/entrepreneurs.

E-commerce winners

The awards for top three companies embracing e-commerce went to the 40% black-owned financial services site BondNet; IT & T Online, which provides access to e-commerce and other Internet-based services through public access terminals and Yomail Cyberstores Agencies; and e-commerce enabler Safika Online, a subsidiary of Safika Technology Holdings.

In his opening address, Dr Hasmukh Gajjar, national chairman of the Black IT Forum (BITF), congratulated the organisers, Forge Ahead BMI-T, and sponsors of the event for acknowledging black movers and shakers in the ICT industry who by their actions were making a difference in "challenging a legacy which refuses to budge beyond tokenism".

He also rebuked major players in the ICT arena for clinging to business strategies that, although they seem to be beneficial to black business at large, in effect leave them exploited and marginalised.

Gajjar expressed his opinion on the growth of SA`s cellular industry, calling for a balanced perspective in interpreting the growth, which he said, is experienced primarily in the prepaid sector of the industry.

The prepaid option lowers barriers to entry, Gajjar said, but reasoned that these barriers only exist because of the practice of credit rating. He believes the limited functionality means users such as informal entrepreneurs are paying a very high price for very basic voice telephony.

Unequal wealth

He pointed a finger at the distribution policies adhered to by major cellular operators in this country, saying the tiered distribution model means distribution is skewed in a manner whereby wealth creation in the industry is not equally shared between larger retailers, and independent franchises or stores.

Gajjar, who held the position of non-executive chairman with Vodacom until December 1999, said the process of creating wealth, using technology as an enabler, needs to be managed responsibly. He believes government has a pivotal role to play in this arena, as does the BITF, in working to dispel the great deal of negative sentiment he claims larger ICT companies are expressing to potential investors in black ICT.

Exclusive supplier agreements between larger companies cut black ICT companies out of the loop, Gajjar said. Another tactic, he observed, is that the many larger ICT groups, which were overzealous to list offshore, had no black partners in SA who could benefit from such expansion, and if they did, then these black companies were more often than not restricted to trading on the local stock exchange only.

From these actions, he said, "It is clear that they [large ICT groups] have no interest in Africa."

In his keynote address, Ngcaba called for black companies to prepare themselves for the expected growth in and demand for portals to service the wireless telephony industry, as the technology evolves to allow users mobile access to Internet-based services and information.

"My sole message to this audience is this - third generation mobile technology is the future, and we need to embrace it. And unless we begin [preparing ourselves] now, it will be very difficult to be competent in the next decade."