Consultancy Accenture South Africa will, in October, in partnership with Clive Govender’s Adapt Digital Solutions, launch the first phase of a Mining Supply Chain platform it has been developing alongside the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE).

Accenture growth and sales lead Kgomotso Lebele, during a Limpopo Mining Investment Conference, on September 29, shared how technology could be leveraged to solve unemployment and inclusiveness issues in South Africa.

The platform will serve to seamlessly link small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with mining companies.

Lebele mentioned that despite SMEs comprising 98% of formal businesses in the economy, the SME sector only accounted for 28% of jobs. He added that 32% of formal business turnover generated in South Africa was from SMEs.

He explained the need for SMEs to be represented more in the mining goods and services supply chain, if jobs were to be created and growth opportunities realised.

Not only should a platform such as the one developed by Accenture and the DMRE enable access to suppliers for mining companies, but it would also enable more stability in communities, if there was consistent and equal access to opportunities.

Through the platform, Accenture hopes to drive transparency about opportunities, industrialisation, localisation, youth- and women-owned company empowerment, classification of products and services, competitiveness and efficiency in the mining supply chain.

“We want the mining industry to use a digital platform to change the way it interacts with suppliers. We want mines to extend their spend with SMEs across multiple procurement areas and support SMEs at a larger scale,” Lebele stated.

He noted that having central information was vital in a modern economy, as was targeted investment.

Accenture is working with telecommunication companies to make the platform zero-rated, meaning it does not intensively require data for access, as well as making it safe and able to integrate with other systems for mining companies.

Lebele said the company had included more than 30 mining and mining services companies in its consultation process in developing the platform, to ensure its relevance and that it could have a solid take-up once more phases roll out.