B-BBEE: Understanding the challenges our business leaders and organisations are faced with in 2016.
Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), as within the past several years, continues to remain a hot topic of discussion in 2016. Our business leaders are faced with the challenges of understanding the complexities of the Codes, whether they drive small or big organisations on a day to day basis. The future of these enterprises is directly affected by decisions made that impact their B-BBEE statuses.
Our skilled and experienced B-BBEE Consultant has summed up a few factors below, in order to ease the challenge of understanding B-BBEE.
Why B-BBEE?
Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) is a programme launched by the South African government to equalize the inequalities of Apartheid by giving previously disadvantaged groups (Black Africans, Coloureds, Indians and some Chinese) of South African citizen’s economic opportunities previously not available to them. This includes measures such as:
- Ownership
- Management and Control with reference to Employment Equity
- Skills Development
- Enterprise Development
- Supplier Development
- Preferential Procurement
- Socio-Economic Development
The Department of Economic Development said it well – “Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) aims to ensure that the economy is structured and transformed to enable the meaningful participation of the majority of its citizens and to further create capacity within the broader economic landscape at all levels” and “especially small and medium enterprises, promoting the entry of black entrepreneurs into the mainstream of economic activity, and the advancement of co-operatives.”
Black Economic Empowerment is thus an important policy instrument aimed at broadening the economic base of the country – and through this, at stimulating further economic growth and creating employment.
The affect of B-BBEE
There is agreement that national wealth should be widely created and evenly distributed among all population groups through B-BBEE. In order for companies to conduct business with each other in South Africa, and to ensure that their businesses are attractive as a potential supplier or beneficiary, they will need to ensure that they fulfil the empowerment criteria; and in order for empowerment to be meaningful, it should be broad-based. Organs of state and public entities must take a business or entity’s B-BBEE status into account when granting licenses, implementing a preferential procurement policy or entering into a partnership within the private sector.
Having gone through the purpose of B-BBEE, and the direct impact it has on all South African businesses, the next few articles in the BEE Series will assist in understanding relevant terms, codes and necessary measures.
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Need assistance in actively implementing B-BBEE within your organisation? Contact us for a no-obligation consultation on 011 849 1345 or email us at info@hrsgroup.co.za
DISCLAIMER – All information supplied herein is intended to be used solely as a guide. HRS Group does not accept any responsibility or liability for any outdated information. Readers are encouraged to contact our professionals directly for further advice.
Sources: Department of Trade and Industry www.thedti.gov.za ; B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice www.thedti.gov.za/economic_empowerment/bee_codes ; Wikipedia www.wikipedia.org ; Address by Premier of Northern Cape, Hazel Jenkins www.gov.za/speeches