VODACOM Group CEO Shameel Joosub, said, “This is a fantastic achievement that clearly demonstrates our strong commitment to the transformation agenda. Photo, Bloomberg.
MOBILE operator Vodacom yesterday said it had achieved the highest score of Level 1 contributor towards Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) for a fourth consecutive year.
Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub, said: “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. For us at Vodacom, B-BBEE is not something we do to get points.
“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.”
Some of the contributors to the score of Level 1 B-BBEE status included the company’s investment of R296 million in skills development. This created 165 learnerships opportunities and ensured employment of 109 candidates on a full-time basis for the year, of which 53 were employed into the company.
Vodacom said it had improved the gender profile of the board of Vodacom, which was made up of 80 percent B-BBEE black board members and 50 percent being black women board members.
On preferential procurement, Vodacom spent R45 billion on all suppliers with B-BBEE status. It spent R17.5 billion to greater than 51 percent black-owned suppliers in addition to the R18.5 billion the company spent on suppliers that had greater than 30 percent black women ownership. It also paid out R2.1bn to black small, medium and micro-sized enterprise suppliers within less than five days of invoice during the 2021/2022 financial year.
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