GijimaAst scoops Fidentia Top Empowered ICT Company of the Year Award

GijimaAst, one of the largest empowered ICT companies listed on the JSE, received the 'Fidentia Top Empowered Company of the Year: Information Technology' award at a ceremony held on Thursday 9 Nov 2006 in Johannesburg. The award is for outstanding achievement as a leading black empowered company in the IT sector and for outstanding contribution to the growth and sustainability of the South African economy.

With its 37% unencumbered black shareholding through Guma (formerly Gijima) and a combined 45% black shareholding, GijimaAst is ranked as the top BEE ICT services and solutions company in South Africa as reflected by its AA Empowerdex rating. It also achieved a ranking of eighth out of 200 JSE-listed companies in a Financial Mail survey during 2006.

Robert Gumede, Executive Deputy Chairman of GijimaAst had this to say "At the time of the merger of Gijima with Ast in 2005, transformation was embraced by both companies. With the changes taking place in our country and business at large, driven by sector empowerment charters including the financial services charter and the mining charter, transformation became a business imperative. At the re-energised GijimaAst, we focused on creating an attractive culture for talented black individuals in an environment which embraced their skills. The success of this initiative is evidenced by operational management in the realigned organisation where two of the top three jobs are held by black ICT professionals. These professionals are at the coal face and bear the full responsibility and accountability of profitably running their divisions.

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"Since the merger, we have made enormous progress in changing the demographics of our workforce by 15% to 30% at the end of our 2006 financial year. Representation in management also changed substantially as demonstrated by our Board of Directors and Executive Committee which are 50% and 45% black respectively. GijimaAst staff members are supportive and they embrace our transformation imperatives. We struck the balance by understanding the job security fears of our white staff members and the expectation of our black staff members, while ensuring that the Group continues to satisfy the needs of both clients and stakeholders. We believe that our Board of Directors is truly representative of South African demographics. We were fortunate to attract an immensely talented team of non-executive directors and appreciate their active participation in strategic matters affecting GijimaAst," explains Gumede.