Enterprise Connection are certainly not shy about their position when it comes to Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and their commitment to do so has earned them top honours in the esteemed publication, Impumelelo - Top 300 Empowerment Companies.
Enterprise Connection`s fresh approach to BEE and their efforts to build "a new South African organisation" have indeed been observed in the right places. Their inclusion in Impumelelo - Top 300 Empowerment Companies will ensure they continue in the limelight for some time to come.
The brainchild of Cyril Ramaphosa and publisher Richard Fletcher, Impumelelo - Top 300 Empowerment Companies is a sister publication of the highly regarded Top 300 Companies. Now in its fourth successful year of publication, Impumelelo identifies top empowerment companies from approximately one hundred and fifty business sectors and over five thousand leading South African companies.
While a range of criteria including quality of operation, performance, innovation and training are considered, the key criterion is the company`s empowerment status, taking into account the level of empowerment at shareholding, executive director and total staff levels.
And it seems that Enterprise Connection have impressively met Impumelelo`s steep criteria.
"At this point in time, you can`t afford not to," says Mncedisi Mayekiso, Executive Director at Enterprise Connection. "As a company in South Africa you`ve got to commit to the future and in doing so commit to true empowerment."
"Our focus is on building a new breed of organisation in South Africa," continues Mayekiso. "One that is truly representative and, more importantly, promotes the amazing entrepreneurial minds and thinking within our own company that will take South Africa to the economic future it truly deserves. Companies like ours are full of young fertile minds that are bursting with ideas. It is our responsibility to recognise these ideas, nurture them and turn them into realities."
Big words. And an even bigger commitment. It`s little wonder that Mayekiso was invited to speak at the ITWeb BEE in IT conference, 13 August 2003 to talk about "Entrepreneurship in IT" and subsequently asked to join the ICT Charter Working Group on Entrepreneurship, a subject he is indeed most passionate about. A subject he most certainly wants to thrust in to the eyes and minds of the IT industry in South Africa. "Gone are the days of window dressing. It`s time to take black empowerment really seriously and much further," says Mayekiso. "If IT companies are going to survive the next ten years in South Africa, they`ve got to start turning empowerment into a genuine and positive reality. The talent in IT in this country is extraordinary. How it is harnessed and managed is what makes the difference between successful empowerment and unsuccessful empowerment."
Enterprise Connection have been commended time and again for their fresh approach to Black Economic Empowerment. Their well deserved inclusion in Impumelelo - Top 300 Empowerment Companies is indeed testament to the work they are doing and their commitment to the future of IT in this country.
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