Local converged network provider, KSS Technologies, has announced that it has consolidated its shares and increased its BEE shareholding to more than 60%.
The transaction included the purchase of shares from a number of smaller shareholders and the sale of a further 25% equity stake to an existing shareholder and KSS director Ntsundeni Madzunya for an undisclosed amount.
KSS Technologies managing director Andr'e Maree says this transaction endorses KSS's commitment to true black economic empowerment and builds on its original commitment to true broad-based BEE principles.
“We believe that the spirit of true BEE encompasses a variety of elements, not only equity. Social upliftment and nation building; skills development and knowledge transfer; and job creation and sustained learnership programmes are all key components of our BEE strategy.”
Not only has Empowerdex verified its status as a true empowerment organisation, KSS contributes to the transformation of the economy and continually engages with other BEE companies. KSS is a privately owned South African company that participates in the empowerment of its people; it helps companies solve IT business challenges using converged network solutions.
Maree says having a true BEE strategy is the right thing to do. “To ensure that our BEE strategy works, all our BEE shareholders are physically involved in the company, they are operational and have a vested interest.”
In addition, KSS has developed and implemented its own skills development programme - the Ithuteng Initiative - in conjunction with a leading human resource development organisation. This programme aims to employ previously disadvantaged individual (PDI) sales executives that effectively represent the products, solutions and services of KSS and its partners in the market; increase the sales capacity and exposure of KSS and its partners; and develop unskilled PDIs into a mutually beneficial career path.
Through this programme, candidates are trained and developed to be proficient in organisational, business and technical skills. The candidates are sourced and selected according to scientific methods - based on predictive modelling of a successful sales person. They are not selected according to experience or skills, but rather on their innate potential and attitude.
Maree is optimistic about the future. He says the business potential as a result of this transaction is astronomical. “We have always had sound business principles, but we have been extremely limited as a result of our BEE status. We can now focus on business that we didn't qualify for previously, including the banking and mining sectors, and most of all - the national, provincial and local government.”
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