Grassroots skills only true route to empowerment in IT

The prospectus or annual report of most South African IT companies these days doubtlessly boasts an `empowerment shareholding`. Government tender documents insist - on the surface anyway - that this is the case, and supposedly only award work to those companies which are sufficiently `representative` (of a cross-section of the South African population and skills base). But are they really?

"If you look closer at the reality of the situation, most so-called `black` or `empowered` IT companies in this country are operating with a very thin `empowerment` layer of icing on what is essentially a white cake," states Appie Pema, managing director of Aptronics (Pty) Limited, a local black empowered corporate IT service provider based in Johannesburg.

"True empowerment is not something which should exist merely to appease stakeholders or investor-analysts, or to look good in the annual report. Whether or not your IT company is listed, should not matter either," Pema maintains.

"Real empowerment starts with empowering the human capital - that is, the people in your organisation - from a grassroots level up," he adds.

Pema is adamant that empowering only the top management echelons of an IT company is only `window-dressing`, and sends out a potentially dangerous message to your stakeholders, be they clients, investors or business partners.

"The South African IT industry, which a recent article in Financial Mail is quoted as having over 200 (supposedly) black IT companies, is as guilty of taking incorrect routes to empowerment as any other," he comments.

The only remedy to this situation, for those companies really wishing to become empowered, is to take the long-term view, and invest in quality training and skills transfer, according to Pema.

"There is no quick-fix solution to this problem. Especially now that the Rand is being squeezed and corporate SA is really under pressure to deliver on its IT promises, we need people with excellent IT skills.

These skills take time to acquire and develop, particularly if the candidate learning them has come from a previously educationally disadvantaged background. However, taking the longer term view with employees is also an excellent way of fostering loyalty, another scarce commodity in the ongoing battle SA employers have in retaining good IT skills.

"Put down firm roots with your IT staff, grow them and their skills base, and they will not only grow with you, but will also tend to stay with you far longer than if they sense you are taking the short-term approach. This is also the best way to ensure a truly empowered company," Pema concludes.