BBBEE

 

 

At the heart of Altech is a unique charter for transformation that commits the group to empowerment through skills enhancement, representative shareholding and widespread development of disadvantaged communities by focusing on areas with the maximum long-term benefit. The Altron Transformation Vision 2012 sets the guidelines for developing our people and the communities around us through education, training and skills development, health, social welfare and job creation.

 

Transformation is one of Altech’s key focus areas and is driven by the company’s top leadership. Having embraced the principles of transformation in the early 1990s, we remain ever mindful of our responsibility to bring about upliftment of historically disadvantaged members of the community, and to pave the way for all racial groups to play a meaningful role in the economy.

 

The group welcomes the Department of Trade and Industry’s (dti) Codes of Good Practice (CoGP) which provide corporate citizens with a guide for implementing broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) across various areas. It also applauds the dti for including Statement 103 in the codes, which makes it easier for multinational corporations to advance the letter and spirit of BBBEE by using what are known as equity equivalents.

 

 

Altech recognises that transformation is driven by more than just a moral obligation to correct the imbalances of the past or the need for social and economic change. Transformation is a business imperative, the implementation of which will determine the company’s ongoing ability to adapt to socio-political changes taking place. In addition, it welcomes the many benefits to be derived from the increased participation of a diverse cross-section of races and groups in both the country’s mainstream economy and the ICT sector in particular.

 

Senior management are responsible for meeting BBBEE targets, which are informed by the dti CoGP and which have been aligned to the company’s strategic growth areas. The meeting of these targets is included in performance management reviews.

 

 

Altech’s commitment to BBBEE was initially outlined in the Transformation Vision 2010 policy manual published in 2005. However, following the achievement of our goals laid out in this document, and the release of the revised dti CoGP in February 2007, Altron updated this policy to incorporate the latest changes.

 

The implementation of BBBEE within the company is now driven by a new Transformation Vision 2012 document, which sets out the guidelines and targets for transformation across Altech for the next five years. The transformation strategy is founded on an unwavering commitment to achieve a workforce that is representative of the demographics of the country, matching available skills and business imperatives.

 

 

Direct empowerment – increasing the level of black

ownership of businesses and other financial assets, as well as raising the extent to which black people, especially women, youth, workers, rural communities and the disabled, control enterprises;

Indirect empowerment – promoting the ownership of sustainable black enterprises by giving preference to black suppliers in procurement, and by actively helping black enterprises through training, coaching, mentoring, financial and non-financial support, as well as improving the quality of life in disadvantaged communities; and

Human resource and organisational development – prioritising the reflection of the country’s demographic reality throughout our entire group by appointing, promoting, developing and retaining black people, with emphasis on women, people with disabilities and the unemployed in the form of learnerships.

Recognising that sustainable changes take time to implement, Arrow Altech Distribution was recently rated a level four contributor by NERA, with Allied Technologies being rated a level three contributor by Nera.