Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) is a process that contributes directly to the economic transformation of South Africa . The construction industry is emerging from decades of decline and increasing infrastructure investment and government's determination to raise gross fixed capital formation to 25% of GDP holds out immense opportunity for industry growth, empowerment and job creation.
The South African construction industry will need to double its output over the next ten years to service the growth predicted. Against this background the construction industry has embarked on a process to implement a transformation charter.
As a leading engineering consulting service company in the construction industry, SSI fully embraces transformation and has been active in initiatives to implement the industry transformation charter.
There is a distinct lack of capacity in the construction sector across all levels and disciplines, which is the result of decades of under-investment in capital projects. The absence of women in the industry in sufficient numbers is also disturbing. The construction sector believes that positive and proactive response through the implementation of the transformation charter will address inequalities in the sector, unlock the sector's potential and enhance its growth.
• constitutes a shared approach reflecting targets that are visionary and contain significant stretch to facilitate the rapid transformation of the construction sector, and establishes the principles upon which BEE should be implemented in the sector
• Establishes targets and qualitative responsibilities in respect of each principle
• Lays the basis for the development of a code of good practice for the construction sector
• Applies to all stakeholders within the sector
• Takes cognisance of differences between contractors and built environment professionals.
SSI and empowerment
SSI is an engineering consulting service company which has been operating for more than eighty years. SSI operates in the global market through its association with DHV (BV) Netherlands which owns 65% of the shares in SSI. SSI has played a leading role in promoting and nurturing empowerment not only within the company, but across the construction industry sector and recently announced a deal in which the company improved and restructured its equity base/shareholding to be more broad based, in line with the charter's objectives.
SSI is a committed employer with a goal of long-term sustainability. SSI's strategic intent is to benefit all its stakeholders, believes that its transformation initiatives are — as an underlying precept — about "doing good business" and recognises black economic empowerment as a business imperative.
SSI also recognises the importance of aligning itself to the needs and aspirations of all its stakeholders, especially its clients and employees.
At present three percent of our payroll is budgeted for skills development. The company complies fully with the South African Skills Development Act and Skills Development Levies Acts. Its 2003 Workplace Skills Plan was approved by CETA (Construction Sector Education and Training Authority).
A task team comprising regional managers and top management from our Human Resources and Marketing and Communications units has been established to monitor ongoing processes in this area and to develop strategies for the future. Members also attend meetings and seminars on empowerment to keep abreast of needs and trends and to act on these developments accordingly.
Both our clients and the industry at large are increasingly becoming aware of the huge strides SSI has made to establish itself as a fully fledged empowerment company. In 2000, we became the first company to be awarded the South African Association of Consulting Engineers (SAACE) Business Excellence Award for its empowerment initiative and we are currently ranked in the Top 300 Empowerment companies in South Africa .
SSI operates in South Africa , elsewhere in Africa and also abroad. The bulk of our work and staff is currently based in South Africa . BEE and the various legislation referred to herein is applicable to South Africa only. However, SSI will continue to offer equal opportunities to all involved in its operations in terms of local country requirements.
SSI supports the prediction of immense opportunities for industry growth, empowerment and job creation and believes that a path of higher growth is not possible without broad based empowerment.
• broad-based
• an inclusive process
• associated with good governance
• part of our growth strategy
:
• Equity ownership
• Management
• Employment equity
• Skills development
• Enterprise development
• Preferential procurement
• Community upliftment through our corporate social investment programme
Our BEE strategy is a process associated with growth, development and enterprise development. SSI promotes skills transfer by working on projects with emerging firms in engineering as well as other disciplines.
Scorecard
The scorecard is an objective framework against which transformation and empowerment achievements can be measured. The scorecard gives a snapshot view of how the transformation process is progressing as measured against targets. It provides a balance between imperatives for transformation and black economic empowerment. It measures transformation across the seven elements of:
• Ownership
• Control
• Employment Equity
• Skills Development
• Procurement
• Enterprise Development
• Corporate Social Investment
SSI rating
SSI's broad-based BEE status, after calculating our score in terms of the Construction Charter scorecard, is classified as a “Level 4” contributor. Going forward, SSI has set itself the target of achieving a score of 100 on the balanced score card.
