One of the excuses some ICT companies used for lagging behind in implementing black economic empowerment (BEE) was that they were waiting for the ICT charter and the BEE Codes of Good Practice to be finalised.
"We are waiting for guidance," senior executives would say when asked about the company's empowerment strategy.
As the ICT charter will be gazetted soon, there are no more excuses. The question is no longer when these companies will implement empowerment policies, but how they will implement them and how effective they will be.
Will the people they are intended to benefit reap the rewards? Or is it going to be one of those well-meaning initiatives that could have transformed SA, if only it was implemented in the spirit of the policy rather than the letter of the law?
Pragmatic view
The question is no longer when companies will implement empowerment policies, but how they will implement them and how effective they will be.
Damaria Senne, senior journalist
When I asked a colleague to read the first draft of this column, where I spoke at length about the spirit of the policy rather than the letter of the law, he accused me of being an idealist. Lest you join him in maligning my good name, let me present a more pragmatic argument for creating an enabling environment for empowerment partners at all levels.
Firstly, a company that grudgingly hires and promotes previously-disadvantaged people to senior management and executive positions, but fails to provide them with an enabling environment that allows them to thrive, is wasting its resources and time.
Such a company will forever be looking for suitably qualified professionals to hire, and spend money on training them, only to lose them to a competitor offering an environment where they can grow and thrive without being bombarded with resentment because they are "empowerment candidates".
It's also good business to keep in mind that BEE investors will now have more opportunities to invest, as companies that have hitherto failed to effectively implement BEE policies scramble to comply. So why get stuck with a major shareholder where the executives disrespect you, when you can take your profits and move on to the next partner?
Who benefits?
My hope is that, as companies implement the ICT charter, more investors will enter the market. One of the complaints about BEE deals to date is that many are between parties that have already made huge amounts of money in previous deals: big names, big profits, but without a beneficiary who clearly gains from BEE for the first time.
Granted, the empowerment partner has to bring something of value to the table, beyond their BEE credentials. But surely we can find creative ways to work with experienced BEE partners who bring value, while at the same time ensuring new entrants can also participate?
My favourite empowerment story, which stuck in my mind months after I wrote about it, is about Nebula Consulting.
The company struck a BEE deal that saw all its employees, 55% of whom are black, acquire 20% shareholding from the outset, with an additional 30% over a period of five years.
The employees didn't even have to acquire debt to finance the deal - the company financed the initial shareholding.
Maybe my colleague is right after all, and I am an idealist. But what's the point of empowering three men and their two cousins, when you can empower a whole country?
Related stories:
ICT charter on final stretch
Green light for ICT charter
Double empowerment at Vodacom
Share