RedLinx, a Western Cape company with a primary focus on the implementation of Novell products, has closed a black economic empowerment (BEE) deal that will see it become a majority black-owned company by 2010.
The deal saw Garth Francis, key black employees and an employee share trust take up a 25.1% shareholding in RedLinx. This BEE shareholding is planned to increase over time to at least 50.1% by 2010.
Francis, the founder of Xepa Consulting and now business solutions director for RedLinx, says the deal has created a company with exceptional ability to supply and support Novell products and solutions.
"Xepa has extensive experience with traditional Novell products, and RedLinx brings a deep understanding of the open source technologies which are the basis of Novell`s newer products," he says. "The fit is excellent and will position us very well for future growth."
The merged company now has three divisions: Business Solutions, headed by Francis, Embedded Systems and Production & Engineering.
Francis says Xepa Consulting will continue to operate in its present form as it has a number of contracts with the City of Cape Town and Parliament. However, it will eventually evolve into becoming Xepa Outsourcing. The firm is also part of the project to make Knysna a WiFi-enabled town.
RedLinx founder and MD, Sean van der Walt, says the deal is one element of a broad-based empowerment strategy.
"We already have a majority of black staff, most of them in technical and management positions, and we actively support a number of small black-owned companies as client, investor or mentor," Van der Walt says.
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