Johannesburg, 13 Dec 2007
Recognising the contributions of South Africa`s empowerment leaders, the winners of the 7th Annual Oliver Empowerment Awards were announced in a dazzling ceremony held at Gallagher Estate, in Midrand, Johannesburg.
Aptronics took top honours at the Oliver Empowerment Awards, garnering a Silver Oliver for its economic empowerment initiatives, being the best-in-class within the IT group.
"If you ask me how I feel... I would say business as usual," says Anil (Appie) Pema, CEO of Aptronics. "But if you give me some time to think about it, then the true meaning of the Oliver award sinks in. We accomplished something by more than just counting the numbers and adding the statistics.
"The Oliver empowerment award shows that what they see as proper national and regional economic development and empowerment is embedded in our strategy, our thinking and our employees."
Pema continues: "When we started in 1992, we could have chosen to follow the pack and see how far we would get by implementing the bare minimum. But being successful and better than the rest means one has to anticipate what might come, and see the value in investing for the company`s and South Africa`s future. We ensured the question of empowerment did not become a burden but an asset and a practice to the company."
The `Olivers`, SA`s foremost BEE awards initiative, is supported by empowerment publication Impumelelo and headlined by sponsor, Absa Bank. Now in its seventh year, the `Olivers` aim to acknowledge the strides made by local companies towards the development and progress of black economic empowerment and employment equity.
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