Zensar, Kapela Holdings, The Tomorrow Trust join hands in SA

Issued by Zensar Technologies
Pune India, 16 Sep 2013

Zensar Technologies has announced that an agreement has been entered into with a majority black-owned investment business, Kapela Fund 1 (Kapela), and The Tomorrow Trust to set up a new broad-based black economic empowered company in South Africa. Zensar will be the majority shareholder of the company, expanding Zensar's presence in South Africa with services in many areas to new customer segments.

Dr Ganesh Natarajan, Vice-Chairman and CEO of Zensar Technologies, says: "This new company reiterates our commitment to South Africa, and its transformational agenda will help consolidate our leadership in the region. We have had an extraordinarily successful decade of operations in South Africa and established leadership in providing technology solutions to the banking, insurance, retail, manufacturing and mining sectors. This venture will help us expand our footprint into government contracts and also enhance our standing in the broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) code of the government."

Speaking to the press, Israel Skosana, Executive Chairman of Kapela Holdings, said: "We are delighted to partner with one of India's IT leaders to establish a trailblazing venture in our country. Zensar has established an excellent reputation in the South African corporate sector and we will work jointly on both public and private sector projects."

The board of the company will have representation from Zensar, Kapela and The Tomorrow Trust.

Kim Feinberg, CEO of The Tomorrow Trust, said: "The Tomorrow Trust is a perfect partner in this very important BEE deal. We are ensuring that we have youth who are educated up in order to be proactive participants in both our economy and society. For business to succeed, we have to make sure that education is a priority in our country. Zensar has acknowledged and has committed to this fact and therefore has partnered with us to make sure that this indeed happens. Our synergies with bursaries and leadership will be highlighted and developed, creating sustainable impact. The Tomorrow Trust Board of Trustees and I are all very excited about this deal."

Harish Lala, Vice-President and Africa Region Head, Zensar, said: "In line with the BBBEE framework, Zensar launched its Learnership Development Program (LDP) and has been identifying local students from the PDI community in South Africa and training them in both South Africa and India. We are pleased that more than 80 of them have already joined the workforce. The new company will widen and deepen these partnerships for community development and reinforce our 'Proudly South African' vision for the country."

The LDP primarily equips students with crucial IT skills, such as software development and testing, to ensure they are eligible for quality jobs. Sarvesh Batta, who heads the initiative, said: "Our aim is to home grow skills to service local Zensar clients in South Africa and also across Africa and increase our global capacity. By building a globally competent IT workforce, we can be part of the development of a world-class IT industry in South Africa."

The South Africa programme is part of Zensar's Centre of Excellence (COE) initiatives around the world focused on training local students to join the workforce.

Dr Natarajan said: "The objective of the COE programme is to enable IT workforce development and facilitate the creation of global clusters of services-oriented competence across the world. The programme focuses on familiarising students with services-oriented solution patterns, processes, problems and pressures so that we have access to a pool of globally employable talent. We are expanding the initiative to the UK and the USA in the current financial year. The programme is not just about local skills development, but it is also a strategic initiative given Zensar's future plans in South Africa. We see this country as a potential centre for research, education and software development, and plan to invest significantly in developing global delivery capabilities here. This will be an important hub of development activities for all our new markets in the coming years."

Zensar Technologies (www.zensar.com)

Zensar Technologies is among the top 13 software services providers from India. The world's first enterprise-wide SEI CMM level five company and now certified as a CMMI level three company, Zensar has industry expertise that spans manufacturing, retail, healthcare, banking, financial services and insurance. An RPG Group company, Zensar has 6 500+ employees with sales and operations presence across the US, the UK, Europe, Canada, Middle East, South Africa, Singapore, China, Australia and Japan. The company delivers comprehensive services for mission-critical applications, enterprise applications, business intelligence, CRM, business process management and in new technologies like social media, mobility analytics and cloud (SMAC). Zensar also provides innovative infrastructure management solutions that enable leading companies worldwide to optimise, secure, manage and support their mission-critical infrastructure. Using its multi-shore capabilities, Zensar combines expert consulting, integration and support services with world-class customer service to help IT organisations reduce costs, increase efficiencies and manage risk better. The company has developed tools and methodologies, including the proprietary Solution BluePrint (SBP), which enables its clients with innovative business solutions and a rapid 'go-to-market' capability. The company supports Fortune 500 clients with software business solutions to simplify, optimise and accelerate their businesses, helping them compete in the digital economy.

Kapela Investments (www.kapelainvestments.com)

Kapela is a majority black-owned business comprised of professionals aimed at creating value through active involvement in its investees. Kapela Holdings is defined as a Black Equity Fund Manager - providing 100% black ownership for the purposes of BBBEE under ownership, voting and economic interest elements.

Kapela targets mid-cap and large businesses with high growth potential and where a meaningful difference can be made through support to management. We aim to work with you as a business partner.

We seek to nurture our partnerships in order to build lifelong relationships, which will support and benefit our investments and enhance their potential. We commit to bringing professionalism, teamwork, inclusivity and value to our investees.

The Tomorrow Trust (www.tomorrowtrust.org.za)

The Tomorrow Trust provides a complete support programme that enables South Africa's orphaned and vulnerable children, who are in need of academic and psychosocial support to overcome shortfalls in the public education system, to reach self-sustainability. The Tomorrow Trust provides both academic and holistic emotional support over the child's entire scholastic career and into gainful employment. What makes this difference possible is a complete service offering and a strategically focused organisation. The Tomorrow Trust gives these children the opportunity to become self-sustainable and self-empowered as well as compassionate, proactive independent members of their economy and society. In a sense, The Tomorrow Trust is about helping these children find and form their own identities. Our identity as a human being makes us recognisable in society; it gives us a sense of purpose. The impact of a person's identity is profound; it speaks beyond any design or message. Our work spans from grade R to grade 12; post-secondary to university and college education. In seven years, we now have 125 alumni with qualifications - diplomas and degrees - now all working in companies across South Africa.

RPG Enterprises (www.rpggroup.com)

RPG Enterprises, established in 1979, is one of India's largest industrial conglomerates with a turnover of over $3 billion. With more than 15 companies in its fold, the group has a strong presence in infrastructure, automotive tyres, IT, pharmaceuticals, plantations and power ancillaries.

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Zensar, Kapela Holdings, The Tomorrow Trust join hands in SA

The new company aims for multi-segment leadership by 2017.