BEE ratings for agencies

"The IAS was founded by Mazole Holdings Group in 2006, a black-owned marketing and communications investment company. As reputedly the only black-owned intermediary (search consultancy) company in the advertising and marketing communications industry, we are cognisant of the importance of equal opportunity, transformation and diversity in the interests of conducting general business," states Johanna McDowell of Mazole.

In the past 12 months, there has been a marked increase in demand by clients to use BEE accredited agencies. However, a lack of understanding and clarity about the process has resulted in many agencies having inconsistent BEE ratings. "Agencies with accredited BEE ratings have more procurement opportunities, especially when tendering for government projects and increasingly with corporate projects," says McDowell.

Seven elements of BEE

Enterprises are rated based on their compliance with the seven elements of the B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice:

• Ownership
  
• Management control
  
• Employment equity
  
• Skills development
  
• Preferential procurement
  
• Enterprise development
  
• Socio-economic development

The IAS is able to assess an agency's current BEE rating, advise on the process of improving those ratings across the seven parts of the BEE scorecard and help the agency prepare its BEE file ready for the BEE verification process, which is conducted by Vericom. "Our role is to provide the necessary support and guidance throughout the process," explains McDowell

In addition, IAS has extended its matching service to include the BEE factor. As the IAS has extensive knowledge of the 450 agencies across all disciplines in South Africa, it is uniquely placed to facilitate introductions to possible new business partners to take an agency's business to the next level without compromising either ownership or quality.