Johannesburg - South Africa’s technology firm Business Connexion (BCX) [JSE:BCX] has made great strides in enhancing its broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) credentials over the past year.
The JSE-listed group was recently ranked as the fourth most empowered ICT (Information and Communications Technologies) firm in this year’s Empowerdex most empowered companies ranking.
The ratings provide rankings for the top 100 companies listed on the JSE with the highest B-BBEE scores across industry sectors. South Africa’s most empowered companies embrace transformation in its totality, and they see it as a business imperative that is essential for the stability of the country and for the success of their businesses.
BCX has made strong gains in its empowerment ratings, from ranking 49th in 2011 and dropping to 51th on the empowerment list in 2013, to 24th place in 2014.
This has enabled BCX – which is one of the largest IT service provider in the country – to overtake its competitors and big telco’s such as Vodacom [JSE:VOD], Telkom [JSE:TKG] and MTN [JSE:MTN] to become the fourth most empowered ICT firm in 2014.
The company is slowly catching up with Datacentric [JSE:DCT], which is currently the most empowered ICT firm in the country with a total B-BBEE score of 88.82 points, followed by Gijima Holdings [JSE:GIJ] in second position with 86.31 points and Allied Technologies (Altech) [JSE:ATN] with 86.07 points in the third place.
“This is a positive progression in our efforts to ensure that BCX contributes to the sector in which we operate and the society at large. For us transformation is much more than scorecards and numbers, it’s our commitment to share the opportunities, wealth and knowledge the ICT sector has to offer,” says Isaac Mophatlane, newly appointed CEO of BCX.
The company recorded an impressive total B-BBEE score of 85.16 points, almost eight points up from 77.77 points in 2013 versus 75.10 points in 2011. This is attributed to BCX’s commitment to diversity and transformation.
Over the past three consecutive years, BCX achieved impressive scores in the four critical elements of the B-BBEE scorecard – ownership (80%), preferential procurement (87%), enterprise development (100%), and socio-economic development (100%). BCX showed a huge improvement in skills development – achieving 65% of the available 17 points, up from 27% in 2013.
BCX recognises that if transformation and B-BBEE in South Africa are to be successful, big business must actively support the development of smaller enterprises. It believes that if successfully implemented, preferential procurement will drive entrepreneurship, skills development and job creation.
The company is led by a board and an executive leadership team that is reflective of the broader South African population. Black people constitute 50% of the board and 36% of the executive and is led by a black executive, whose vast amount of experience was gained in the sector.
Like other top rated companies in terms of empowerment scores BCX is committed to the transformation agenda of South Africa and this enables the company to do business in a manner that is in the interest of society, clients and use it to boost their financial performance.
In May 2015, the South African government is to implement new B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice which sets to focus on productive B-BBEE.
BCX is crafting a strategic roadmap that seeks to align the company’s transformation programme with the revised B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice.
“We are committed to the transformation agenda of our country,” says Mophatlane.
“The key deliverables of the BCX transformation strategy include aligning BCX policies and strategies with all new relevant legislations, improving the employment equity score and striving to retain level 2 B-BBEE rating.”
The JSE-listed group was recently ranked as the fourth most empowered ICT (Information and Communications Technologies) firm in this year’s Empowerdex most empowered companies ranking.
The ratings provide rankings for the top 100 companies listed on the JSE with the highest B-BBEE scores across industry sectors. South Africa’s most empowered companies embrace transformation in its totality, and they see it as a business imperative that is essential for the stability of the country and for the success of their businesses.
BCX has made strong gains in its empowerment ratings, from ranking 49th in 2011 and dropping to 51th on the empowerment list in 2013, to 24th place in 2014.
This has enabled BCX – which is one of the largest IT service provider in the country – to overtake its competitors and big telco’s such as Vodacom [JSE:VOD], Telkom [JSE:TKG] and MTN [JSE:MTN] to become the fourth most empowered ICT firm in 2014.
The company is slowly catching up with Datacentric [JSE:DCT], which is currently the most empowered ICT firm in the country with a total B-BBEE score of 88.82 points, followed by Gijima Holdings [JSE:GIJ] in second position with 86.31 points and Allied Technologies (Altech) [JSE:ATN] with 86.07 points in the third place.
“This is a positive progression in our efforts to ensure that BCX contributes to the sector in which we operate and the society at large. For us transformation is much more than scorecards and numbers, it’s our commitment to share the opportunities, wealth and knowledge the ICT sector has to offer,” says Isaac Mophatlane, newly appointed CEO of BCX.
The company recorded an impressive total B-BBEE score of 85.16 points, almost eight points up from 77.77 points in 2013 versus 75.10 points in 2011. This is attributed to BCX’s commitment to diversity and transformation.
Over the past three consecutive years, BCX achieved impressive scores in the four critical elements of the B-BBEE scorecard – ownership (80%), preferential procurement (87%), enterprise development (100%), and socio-economic development (100%). BCX showed a huge improvement in skills development – achieving 65% of the available 17 points, up from 27% in 2013.
BCX recognises that if transformation and B-BBEE in South Africa are to be successful, big business must actively support the development of smaller enterprises. It believes that if successfully implemented, preferential procurement will drive entrepreneurship, skills development and job creation.
The company is led by a board and an executive leadership team that is reflective of the broader South African population. Black people constitute 50% of the board and 36% of the executive and is led by a black executive, whose vast amount of experience was gained in the sector.
Like other top rated companies in terms of empowerment scores BCX is committed to the transformation agenda of South Africa and this enables the company to do business in a manner that is in the interest of society, clients and use it to boost their financial performance.
In May 2015, the South African government is to implement new B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice which sets to focus on productive B-BBEE.
BCX is crafting a strategic roadmap that seeks to align the company’s transformation programme with the revised B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice.
“We are committed to the transformation agenda of our country,” says Mophatlane.
“The key deliverables of the BCX transformation strategy include aligning BCX policies and strategies with all new relevant legislations, improving the employment equity score and striving to retain level 2 B-BBEE rating.”