The recently established twin black leadership of Jonas Bogoshi and Robert Gumede at GijimaAST sees the IT group claiming the top spot in the management and control ranking of the 2008 Top Empowerment Companies (TEC) survey.
GijimaAST claims 11 out of a total 15 points in the management factor of the broad-based BEE scorecard. The group ranked ahead of prominent BEE players like Sekunjalo, which managed to get 10,9 management points and claimed the second spot in the Top 10 list. The list also features Telkom with 10,6 points; The Don; Business Connexion; Datacentrix; Kagiso Media; Metropolitan; Faritec; and Dimension Data.
GijimaAST is ranked 13th in the overall TEC survey with a total BEE score of 68,84 points. With the leadership of Bogoshi and Gumede things can only improve for a group that sports 45,6% in black ownership. The group commands 50% black participation in its board of directors and claims another 50% at executive management level. As well as Bogoshi and Gumede, the GijimaAST board features Kalaa Mpinga, Andrew Mthembu and Judy Dlamini.
Bogoshi was appointed GijimaAST CEO in June last year; Gumede, who has been with the group from 2005, was made executive chairman in January last year. Their leadership may serve to make history if they manage to turn the fortunes of GijimaAST around.
BEE stories on the JSE are dominated by black groups that are brought in to become partners in healthy enterprises. Stories of black entrepreneurs who come into struggling operations and turn them around are few and far between. Bogoshi and Gumede could add their names to the list of these remarkable stories.
Their story comes close to the experiences of entrepreneur Thabiso Tlelai, who took over a loss-making hotel group, The Don, and turned it into a healthy business entity.
GijimaAST takes its name from the merger of two entities in 2005. These are AST, which listed on the JSE in 1999, and Gijima Info Technologies Afrika. The merged operation struggled, partly as a result of ballooning operating costs and a tighter market. For a while it appeared as if the group was destined for the financial dustbin.
There are signs of a turnaround. Over the past few months the group has won big contracts. These include a R122m five-year contract to deliver business software and support services to Anglo Platinum. The group also won a R2bn contract with the department of home affairs.
The latest numbers - for a group which had become the dog of the JSE - show significant progress. GijimaAST's figures for the six months ended December reflect a marked improvement in margins - a factor that has over the years kept the group's performance down. The group registered a 279% increase in interim headline earnings, which was drawn from an 18% increase in interim revenue to R1,2bn. Operating margin improved from 3,2% to 5,7%.
"Our revenue growth rate demonstrates that we have gained market share in the past six months," says Bogoshi. "This shows that we have positioned ourselves to be a leader in both systems integration and outsourcing," he says.
"We now have well-diversified revenue streams as an ongoing service provider to the top private-sector companies, balanced by the large and complex implementations in progress in the public sector.
"Though we will continue to pursue opportunities to deliver further profitable revenue growth, our attention now also focuses on superior execution of the projects recently awarded. We are geared to accommodate additional revenue without substantial investments or additional fixed costs and poised to benefit from economies of scale," he says.
"The buoyant market, while presenting attractive revenue opportunities, is also characterised by increased mobility of experienced people," says Bogoshi. "We have been affected by this trend, but the progress we have made in the past three years has created an attractive environment for talented individuals, contributing to our aim to become the employer of choice in the ICT industry," he says.
He says that the group has defended its capability by retaining key skills and attracting a number of highly sought-after technologists, while the demographic split of its workforce has become more representative, with 40% of staff being black. The group will continue to invest heavily in skills development.
