MTN Group has
announced that it has retained its Level 1 Broad-Based Black Economic
Empowerment (B-BBEE) contributor status for the 2022 financial year as part of
its commitments to transformation in South Africa.
The rating is contained
in the Group’s annual B-BBEE compliance report, in which major subsidiary MTN
South Africa retained a Level 1 B-BBEE contributor status for the fourth year
running.
The B-BBEE contributor
status considers both the MTN South Africa operating entity and the MTN
Group’s South African operating entities.
“In
our work to create the MTN of tomorrow, we are committed to fulfilling our
strategic priority to create shared value,” said
MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita. “This
incorporates a focus on increased localisation across our markets, including in
South Africa where we were established at the dawn of democracy in 1994 as a
leader in transformation.”
Notable improvements for
the MTN Group in 2022 were in our ‘Management Control’ and ‘Preferential
Procurement’ scores.
The ‘Management Control’
improvement was a result of the consistent alignment of MTN’s recruitment
practices to the targets related to the economically active population (EAP) in
South Africa. The improvement in the ‘Preferential Procurement’ score was
mainly due to an increase in procurement spending with exempt micro enterprises
(EMEs), qualifying small enterprises (QSEs) and ‘Designated Groups’.
“Retaining
our Level 1 B-BBEE Contributor status is critical. We intend to take steps not
only to retain this status in future but also to put more emphasis on our preferential
procurement and localisation efforts,” Mupita said.
MTN
South Africa CEO Charles Molapisi said a focus of preferential procurement will
be the development of a new approach to Enterprise and Supplier Development
(ESD) in MTN SA. “In the year ahead, we intend to drive an ambitious
programme to enhance supply chain resilience, with B-BBEE and localisation at
its core.”
“Key
to this effort is to go beyond mere compliance to current legislation and
rather to improve our ability to adapt to the ever-changing operating
environment and the challenging economic conditions,” he
added.
By: Nana Appiah Acquaye