IT services and solutions provider Paracon appears to be making progress with its long-awaited empowerment plan, with WDB Investment Holdings set to take a significant stake in the company.
Paracon already has a relationship with WDB Investment Holdings as they are joint venture partners in WDB Technologies. WDB holds a 51% stake in that company, with Paracon owning the balance.
Paracon first said in November last year that it hoped to make an announcement that an empowerment company had acquired a stake. It now says talks at an advanced stage may result in WDB Investment Holdings becoming a "significant shareholder" in Paracon.
The WDB Group has its beginnings in 1991 with the formation of WDB Micro-Finance, a not-for-profit organisation aimed at providing rural women with group loans and basic training.
The group has grown since then, with WDB Investment Holdings, the investment arm of the WDB Trust, beginning operations in 1997.
Founded by Zanele Mbeki and Gertrude Shope, it is partly funded by international donors such as the Ford Foundation, Kellogg, Open Society, IDC and Scandinavian organisations.
WDB Investment Holdings` aim is to create a portfolio of investments and repatriate the profits through to the trust for use in the social development programmes.
Its investments include stakes in BP SA, Rennies Travel, People`s Bank, Uthingo Management Services and WDB Technologies.
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