The promise to transform management has become a golden ticket used by every Tom, Dick and Harry to get a piece of the empowerment equity transfer action.
Often this campaign is not backed by real roll-out plans, though there are cases where BEE equity partnership has delivered the goods on the management transformation front. One such case is the partnership between media and entertainment group Primedia and broad-based BEE group the Mineworkers' Investment Company (MIC).
Thanks to the MIC partnership, Primedia tops the management table in the 2007 Top Empowerment Companies survey. The management factor includes board participation and representation of black people at executive management level.
Primedia boasts a 53,6% black representation at board level and 50% at executive level. That gives the group a total management score of 11 out of the 15 points allocated to the management element in the broad-based BEE scorecard.
Other top performers on the management element of the scorecard are Telkom and hotel management operation The Don Group, both of which also scored 11 points.
They are followed by Sekunjalo Investments, MTN Group, Mvelaphanda Resources, Faritec Holdings, Hosken Consolidated Investments, Merafe Resources and Metropolitan Holdings.
"We are not an ordinary BEE group, we strive to add value in our investments and get involved as far as possible operationally," says MIC executive director Keshan Pillay.
MIC holds about 18% of Primedia. Their relationship dates back to 1996, when MIC landed 5% of Primedia, which it increased to 18,6% in 2005. MIC and the Kirsch family, founders of Primedia, have proposed to buy out Primedia's minorities and delist. If successful, this will increase MIC's holdings to more than 40%.
