ON TRACK Vodacom Group, which comprises the consolidation of all locally owned subsidiaries, retained its Level 1 BBBEE status for the third consecutive year
Telecommunications giant Vodacom South Africa has achieved Level 1 broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) contributor statues for a fourth consecutive year.
Parent company Vodacom Group, which comprises the consolidation of all locally owned subsidiaries, retained its Level 1 BBBEE status for the third consecutive year.
“This is a fantastic achievement that clearly demonstrates our strong commitment to the transformation agenda and is testament to our commitment towards the transformation of this economy,” says Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub.
“As a company with deep local roots, we fully embrace transformation and its ideals which, among other things, aim to provide women with equal work opportunities so they can contribute meaningfully in the mainstream economy,” he continues.
Vodacom recorded improvements on all seven components of the BBBEE scorecard – ownership, management control, employment equity, skills development, preferential procurement, supplier development, enterprise development and socioeconomic development – of the amended Information and Communications Technology Codes of Good Practice for Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment.
Vodacom invested R296-million in skills development, including internal and external bursaries, training of staff members, graduate and learnership programmes and training of youth across the country through the Youth Academy, besides others.
“For instance, of the 165 learnership opportunities it created, it ensured employment of 109 candidates on a full-time basis for the year, of which 53 were employed into the company. Just over R16.2-million was spent on skills training for black people living with disabilities,” Joosub comments.
The company also improved the gender profile of the board of Vodacom, which now is made up of 80% black board members and 50% black women board members.
With the preferential procurement scorecard, Vodacom spent R45-billion on all suppliers with BBBEE status, R17.5-billion of which was spent on 51%-plus black-owned suppliers and R18.5-billion on suppliers that had greater than 30% black women ownership.
In the past financial year, Vodacom’s total investment in enterprise development amounted to R405-million.
The company also invested over R199-million in community projects to transform the lives of black people through the Vodacom Foundation.
“We are serious about the transformation agenda and the development of South Africa and we will not be deterred in our resolve to play an active role in moving South Africa forward by driving meaningful and sustainable transformation programmes to afford historically disadvantaged people the opportunity to participate in the mainstream economy,” concludes Joosub.