Q & A MSCT BEE SERVICES than a short-term, costly compliance status. Emphasis should be placed on the relationship between the small, micro and medium enterprises( SMMEs) and large enterprises, allowing both parties to engage in a working relationship that is both sustainable and profitable. Sometimes, too much focus is given to the employees, the owners and the beneficiaries when actually, more attention should be given to the actual relationship between the measured entity and the beneficiary. Consulting services can drive this relationship. Once a company is profitable, it will achieve long-term sustainability. With this comes the opportunity to focus on other areas within the B-BBEE scope, such as job creation, skills development, community upliftment, support and ownership. Consulting services help companies reach this comfortable state more sustainably, and streamline the process to each entity’ s specific needs.
The workshops help bring awareness and understanding of the B-BBEE codes and legislation offered in its simplest form.
Considering realities such as high unemployment rates, inadequate skills capacity, and digitisation, what are the actions required to enable B-BBEE to be implemented more efficiently to address the challenges South Africa faces?
Implementation of control and consistency across the board is integral. The B-BBEE industry is very similar to the legal and financial sectors. Within these sectors, we acknowledge and identify professional regulators. Regulation is desperately needed within the B-BBEE compliance industry.
… compliance can be relatively inexpensive if respect and attention are given to the objectives of the B-BBEE Act …
Tell us a bit about transactional B-BBEE vs transformational B-BBEE. What is the trend in SA, and what is its impact?
The question is whether B-BBEE should follow a capitalist or Bata-based approach. It should be the latter, whereby entities that have achieved a level of compliance should be able to negotiate further terms as their initiatives drive change and transformation. Is it, therefore, transactional or transformational? This opinion I leave to the readers.
Businesses are investing in ESG. What are the benefits of potentially linking ESG and B-BBEE goals?
All initiatives undertaken in the journey to B-BBEE compliance should be in the form of achieving the three pillars of ESG. These are the environmental, social, and good corporate governance / ethics. Achieving these three goals in any business makes the difference between a sustainable transformation, which becomes a long-term benefit, versus a costly short-term level of compliance.
Consistency in the application and regulation of the methodologies, which are then put into practice to achieve the purpose of the legislation, is vital. Without this, it could become more and more challenging to fulfil the Act’ s purpose and make meaningful changes within entities and the country itself. A tick-box approach sometimes overshadows B-BBEE, and unfortunately, some do use the loopholes and grey areas in the policy to exploit the legislation and companies trying to reach their B-BBEE compliance goals. It breeds negativity – at a high cost to those who could benefit significantly from the Act.
Let ' s talk about the workshops MSCT BEE Services runs, as well as key takeaways and highlights that have enabled positive results.
The questions posed by clients and consultants often inspire the workshop material. The MSCT Workshops offer to bring awareness to the complex areas of the legislative framework and its various requirements. Understanding why the requirements exist is essential before positive solutions and feasible plans can be put together. The workshops help bring awareness and understanding of the B-BBEE codes and legislation offered in its simplest form. This allows clients and consultants to make business and commercial sense of the policies and procedures. Thus we have found that companies become more accepting of policy, which results in impactful change as opposed to simply achieving compliance. This is what makes MSCT BEE Services unique and what drives the success of our workshops. ■
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