SME Survey, which tracks the needs of small to medium enterprises (SMEs) including the impact of technology in SA, has concluded a black economic empowerment (BEE) deal with Bonngoe Capital, a firm that specialises in advisory services.
Bonngoe Capital chairman Vuyo Jack and SME Survey principal researcher Arthur Goldstuck declined to reveal the value of the deal, saying both organisations are private companies.
Under the terms of the deal, 28% of the ownership of the SME Survey will be transferred to Bonngoe, while operational and additional resources will be assigned to SME Survey to "deepen the breadth and depth of the research".
Goldstuck says SME Survey was looking for a company that could add further intellectual capital to the survey and found that partner in Bonngoe. "Empowerment ratings agency Empowerdex, a Bonngoe company, will bring an added level of understanding and insight," he says.
"We began discussing the possibility after the conclusion of the 2003 SME Survey, when we first decided we would include BEE questions in the next survey, and immediately identified our lack of BEE strategy as being a little out of step with our research direction."
Jack says the partnership should result in the collection of a wider range of information from survey respondents, as well as improved analysis and interpretation of the results.
He explains that Bonngoe Capital and Empowerdex are two separate companies, but both fall under Bonngoe Holdings.
Goldstuck says the companies will seek to test the hypothesis that empowerment is having an increasingly positive impact on SMEs' competitiveness.
With the official launch of the 2006 survey set for 1 March, SME Survey and Bonngoe will gather information from about 6 000 randomly selected decision-makers in South African SMEs through the course of the year.
"Our 2003 survey focused on the impact of IT on SMEs, and we will revisit the topic for the 2006 edition. Research findings will be presented in seminars which are scheduled to be held in September," says Goldstuck.
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