The market must get this message loud and clear. This survey, Top Empowerment Companies (TEC), should not be seen as a competition. Not in the true sense of the word. It is not a beauty contest for some glitzy prize.
TEC is more of a platform where SA corporations gather to share notes about how they are tackling the gigantic task of transforming their ranks.
Behind the idea of publishing TEC is an acknowledgment that transformation is a challenge. The damage inflicted by apartheid on the SA social landscape is colossal. There is no magic cure to heal the wounds overnight. Every thinking person should know that.
But then time is of the essence in this political project. The party will be over should there be widespread belief that the smooth political transition, which ushered in democracy in 1994, is not about to find economic meaning. As we speak, emotions are running high. Organised black business seems to be losing patience and is on the offensive. Elements of edginess are emerging within the white business establishment. Foul language is slowly creeping into the BEE discourse. Mind you, as it stands, BEE is a project founded on the politics of consensus. Simmering confrontational politics will simply sink the project.
In all this TEC becomes a voice of reason. Numbers do not lie. At least not to the extent reflected in emotionally charged debates on empowerment. A joint project between the FM and BEE rating agency Empowerdex, TEC is compiled by applying the broad-based BEE scorecard on companies listed on the main board of the JSE. Then a TEC list is produced in this publication. The data, collected and collated by Empowerdex, is complemented by in-depth editorial coverage provided by FM journalists. What emerges is a mix of quantitative and qualitative analysis of BEE trends within a given year.
The bulk of TEC data is based on information voluntarily supplied by listed enterprises. Where enterprises did not respond to our call for data, TEC relies on publicly available sources of information such as annual reports.
Gratitude must be extended to companies who have opened their books for scrutiny by the FM and Empowerdex. To those companies who choose to bury their heads in the sand, rest assured the FM will continue to bang on your doors for this information. Ours is a mission to inform broader society about the well-being of this new democracy. In the TEC case, where the focus is public companies, we are justified in being aggressive.
TEC presents valuable pieces of information about how enterprises across the land are coping with the BEE challenge. Take a look at how services group Adcorp has managed to become the most empowered entity on the JSE within the parameters of the TEC data. You may come out with valuable lessons.
See the marvellous contribution of Kumba in the country's technical skills development campaign. Though the skills development levy is set at 1% of an enterprise's payroll, Kumba has jacked up its skills spending to more than 3%. Its programme will make a huge difference to addressing SA's skills shortage.
Look at how the Peu-led consortium has re-engineered the structure used to hold its stake in transport and logistics giant Super Group into a financially sensible arrangement. Sometimes less is better.
Contrary to popular belief, financial services group Investec is not doing a bad job on the empowerment front. Take a closer look at Investec numbers and the underlying initiatives before you judge next time around.
Actually the entire financial services sector should not be afraid of the generic scorecard carried in the BEE Codes of Good Practice. In this data, based on the generic scorecard, financial institutions come out tops. Investec, Standard Bank, FirstRand and Metropolitan are featured in the Top 10 TEC list.
A number of other financial players pack the Top 20. With the TEC figures in view, the bickering within the Financial Sector Charter Council becomes senseless.
