‘Enterprise development a key element of BEE’

Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) is often misinterpreted or ineffectively implemented, with the focus too often placed on only some of the measurable scorecard elements rather than all seven. According to Kriba Naiken, managing director of African Project Logistics, a subsidiary company of the ICM Group, elements of the scorecard such as ownership, employment equity and social development feature predominantly while something like enterprise development is often left by the wayside. “Enterprise development, in my opinion, is the most important element of the scorecard, and the one that is currently the most neglected by companies. It involves mentorship and support (financially or otherwise) of newly developed companies or organisations, and this is key to resolving South Africa’s huge unemployment dilemma and our economic growth ambitions,” said Naiken. The seven scorecard elements, as gazetted in February 2007 by the government, are ownership, management, employment equity, skills development, preferential procurement, enterprise development and socio-economic development. With the South African project logistics market revolving mainly around infrastructure development like the construction of the Medupi and Kusile Power Stations, BEE is even more important in the current context. “These projects are being funded by government, which means that BEE forms a vital part of the procurement decisionmaking process,” said Naiken. “BEE, however, is not just superficial and having the right colour mix. In practice BEE empowers those who never had a past to benefit from. Our rating of Level 3 means business opportunities, it means growth for our nation, it means growth in skills development for all, it means lots of hard work to maintain and improve ourselves, it means building our future.”