Johannesburg, 05 Jun 2019
BCX is proud to announce it has achieved a B-BBEE level one contributor status, demonstrating its continued commitment to the South African business community and inclusive business development.
The change comes as a result of parent company Telkom being granted B-BBEE facilitator status by the Office of the Presidency for the full share of 40.50%% held in Telkom South Africa, with a 20.19% black female ownership and a 135% procurement recognition.
“We are very proud of the outcome of our B-BBEE ranking. Apart from our parent company Telkom’s ownership status having an impact on ours, a further contributing factor to our improved status was the meaningful contribution made by our social impact initiatives. Digital skills transformation and support towards enterprise and supplier development are the cornerstones of our business philosophy and our improved ranking is a testament to the commitment and focus on our business strategy of being a preferred provider and partner to our customers,” explained Jonas Bogoshi, Chief Executive Officer at BCX.
BCX’s corporate and social transformation programme is a key contributing initiative. With the vision to inspire social change through impactful innovation, the programme functions as a catalyst in the ICT sector, creating inclusion through skills development. Since 2017, the company has invested in skills development through its social impact programme, revolutionising the way coding, data science knowledge and skills are accessed.
BCX has partnered with like-minded organisations that are passionate about accelerating the future of South Africa. These include Explore Data Science Academy, South Africa’s first fully funded training institution for data science. To date, BCX has sponsored 200 students over the past two years to complete the free year-long course and internship, focusing on the immense potential that data science and analytics has for the future of tech, together with making them employable.
Another example is WeThinkCode, a tuition-free programme for young people that aims to produce 100 000 coders over the next 10 years. As the growth sponsor of WeThinkCode, BCX has contributed to the programme to invest in the next generation of talent in the ICT sector. By the end of 2018, with the support of this BCX investment, the programme had more than doubled the number of entry-level coders in the South African market.
BCX has developed its own enterprise development initiative, the National Innovation Programme (NIP), aimed at building an end-to-end ecosystem of support for technology-focused small businesses.
“Whether it’s through partnerships with training providers who help to develop the youth and make them employable or assisting with the development of entrepreneurs, our aim through each initiative has been to empower them with practical opportunities to participate in the business community. Our social impact and enterprise development programmes and its many successes have provided us with an opportunity to effect change in a purposeful and tangible way,” adds Bogoshi.
BCX continues to look for more opportunities to build a stronger ICT foundation in South Africa.
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