Transformation agenda launched by MFSA

The project has been initiated by the joint private sector and government committee that is guiding the process of transformation in the industry and is the first of its kind and scale in South Africa.

Mpho Makwana, CEO of the MFSA and co-chair of the industry working group appointed to drive the initiative, said that the project represents an exciting new departure for BEE compliance in South Africa because it puts the emphasis on the carrot and not on the stick.

"This is not a killjoy initiative," he stressed. "It is not just about throwing codes at people to force them to change, it is about changing the way they think."

Makwana said that the sector has long been recognised as having specific challenges with regards to BEE that have to be overcome, if the industry wants to continue to thrive.

"Ours is a very important industry," said Makwana. "Not only is it one of the most robust and creative in the world, but we also have enormous influence over shaping perceptions both inside and outside of South Africa. It is important that some accountability is injected into this."

The project is being implemented by the newly formed BEE Monitor – an alliance between the Black Management Forum (BMF) and the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business. The group brings a powerful combination of both practical and academic expertise to the project.

Project Director, Angus Bowmaker-Falconer, said that the special combination of knowledge and skills in BEE Monitor will enable the project to do more than just audit the industry.

"At a basic level the project will measure and map transformation in purely numerical terms in order to provide definitive baseline data for the industry that can be monitored over time and against which the entire industry can benchmark itself," said Bowmaker Falconer. "But it will also go further than that, venturing into more intangible territory to explore issues around perceptions of black people as reflected in advertising (the most visible side of the industry) and how and why media spend is happening," he said.

"The project will be light years away from a conventional data gathering exercise," agreed Loyiso Mbabane, senior lecturer at the UCT Graduate School of Business and the Policy and Research Director for the BEE Monitor. "In addition to the research we want to get the industry excited about the potential of empowerment."

The project will get under way in the next few days and preliminary results are expected by the third quarter of this year. Makwana said that the industry would use the information generated by the project to form the basis of a report to Parliament on BEE progress in the industry later this year.

The data will also be used to develop benchmarking and measurement tools similar to those developed by the Mining, Financial Services and IT Charters along with best practice guidelines that will show how transformation can add value to the industry.

"We are going to ask companies in the sector what has inspired them and enabled transformation to take place. And then we are going to use this information to generate positive models of transformation within the industry. This will help to accelerate transformation in the sector in a way that makes sense to all involved," said Bowmaker Falconer.