Empowerment in South Africa is critical. In order for the country to realise its full potential, all citizens need to be able to participate in the economy, making a contribution through their skills and purchasing power. To achieve this, the South African Government passed the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment Act. The Act encourages companies to provide opportunities for previously disadvantaged individuals. An integral part of the Act is a generic scorecard, which measures companies’ empowerment progress in four areas
- Direct empowerment through ownership and control of enterprises and assets.
- Management at senior level.
- Skills development and employment equity.
- Indirect empowerment through:
- Preferential procurement,
- Enterprise development, and
- Corporate social investment.
A company can claim 15 points of a total 100 points in the scorecard through skills development. Points can be earned in three ways:
- 6 points can be earned by enrolling 5% of the workforce on learnerships or accredited training that leads to a recognised qualification for black learners;
- A further 6 points can be gained if 3% of your annual payroll is spent on the training of previously disadvantaged individuals; and
- Another 3 points are added if a tenth of the above expenditures benefits black disabled people.
Since learner allowances are also allowed to be included as training expenditures, it is easily possible to earn the full 15 points provided disabled learners are participating on the programme.
Doing business with i-Fundi, will reflect well on your BEE score card. Being rated as an AAA+ or Level 1 contributor, you count R1.35 as preferential buying for every Rand spent with i-Fundi.
Scoring high on the score card is important because it may swing a decision in your favour when your clients make their purchasing decisions. But you also demonstrate your commitment to the transformation and development of South Africa. Everyone wins through learnerships and training. Learners find decent work and acquire new skills, companies have better staff, customers enjoy good service and South Africa benefits as a whole.