Ignore empowerment at your peril, says Kapele’s Latakgamo

THE BENEFITS of embracing Black Economic Empowerment by far exceed the perceived negatives, and it would be in the long term interests of South African business to see BEE as a business imperative rather than a social issue, says Joe Latakgomo, chief executive of Kapele Freight and Logistics.
However, there is also the need for BEE companies to realise that simply being a black owned company should not be the sole criterion for deciding on awarding contracts, Latakgomo says.
“The debate about whether BEE is a business risk is still raging within boardrooms, and it is amazing how often companies declare that they have no need for a BEE element in their business - until they are faced with pitching for major business with a company that does business with government, and therefore seeks business or service providers that have a clear BEE policy,” he says.
Latakgomo says fronting is still a major problem in this country, but it is something that the industry has to deal with harshly. It is for this reason that the industry BEE scorecard that is currently being crafted, is so necessary.
Asked whether small BEE companies would have the resources that some big companies are looking for in their service providers, Latakgomo suggests that many companies use this as a smokescreen to justify their continued use of long-established white companies to do business.
“If we were to follow this route, then most of the small BEE companies would not grow - it’s a simple case of chicken or egg. Other companies believe that they would be used as guinea pigs if they were to use untested small companies. They want to wait for others to put their foot into the water before they can join, but this is not the way we can grow the economy of this country,” Latakgomo says.
His company has shown steady growth in the last year, with major support from companies like Ericsson and Knorr Bremse.
“We believe that these companies do not only utilise our services because we are a BEE company - they use us because we provide good service. They want their products to be delivered on time, every time, and that is what service is all about in this industry,” he adds.