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The prestigious Oliver Empowerment Awards, which is hosted by Topco Media’s annual empowerment publication Impumelelo, acknowledged, congratulated and celebrated the efforts made by 16 local companies and individuals towards the development of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and transformation. From an impressive list of 60 finalists, winners in 16 categories were announced at a black tie event on Thursday 3 May 2012 at Emperors Palace in Johannesburg.

The winners are:

Empowerment Funding Award: Absa Group Limited

Education and Training Award: Dormac (Pty) Ltd

Supply Chain Management Award: Netcare Limited

Corporate Leadership Award:  SizweNtsalubaGobodo Inc

Community Development Award: Netcare Limited

New Black Business Development Award: Netcare Limited

Diversity Award: Lion of Africa Insurance Company Limited

Top Black Entrepreneur of the Year Award: Bongi-M Construction cc - Ms Sibongile Maseko

Top Black Business Leader of the Year Award: Sizwe Ntsaluba Gobodo Inc. - Ms Nonkululeko Gobodo

Top Black Public Sector Executive Award: SAMSA - Commander Tsietse Mokhele

Top Black Owned Business of the Year Award: Lebone Engineering (Pty) Ltd

Top Empowered Business of the Year Award: SizweNtsalubaGobodo Inc

Top Black Owned SMME Award: Molobeng Mining Labour Hire and Projects SA (Pty) Ltd

Public Service Award: SA Maritime Safety Authority

Top Empowered Multinational Award: Microsoft South Africa (Pty) Ltd

NGO of the Year Award: Zenzele Training and Development

People leading interesting lives - Here's more about some of the winners:

• The award ceremony started with the Lifetime Achievement Award being given to respected businessman Mark Headbush, after an address by keynote speakers Tembakazi Mnyaka, the Deputy President of the Black Management Forum, and Eric Miyeni, journalist, filmmaker, actor and 'agent provocateur'. 

“Mark has made an incredibly positive impact not only in the area of black economic empowerment but also in the South African business arena as a whole. He is a notable and remarkable business leader who embodies the principals of empowerment, entrepreneurship and transformation. He is totally deserving of this Lifetime Achievement Award after a lifetime dedicated to transformation and equal opportunity,” publisher of Impumelelo, Ralf Fletcher said.

The award citation read in part: "Mark Headbush helped establish Afritel Cellular Systems - South Africa’s first black-owned and operated cellular service provider. Mark also started Vula Investments – part of the Midi TV consortium that gave birth to e tv. Mark has been involved in countless other ventures during his almost 20 years in the South African ICT sector".

• Entrepreneur of the Year, Sibongile Maseko from Bongi-M Construction, was hailed as follows: "Coming straight out of Grade 12, she cut her teeth as a civil engineer at a construction company where she did an in-house qualification. She then climbed the ladder before moving into a consulting engineer position. This took her directly on a path of working with small business entrepreneurs in the field.

"Sibongele took the next step – starting her own business which she funded from her personal savings. Bongi M Construction started by subcontracting for larger firms. But the company has grown, winning contract after contract, and is now a leading player in the construction industry’s SMME sector. Bongi M Construction has an exemplary record and is 100% female-owned". 

• The Top Black Owned Business of the Year Award went to Lebone Engineering, a consulting engineering firm.

The business was started by four black engineers in 1995 and now employs over 100 people on either a full-time or consulting basis. "It has shown exemplary growth and has a track record in securing growing contracts. It has a commitment to transformation and empowerment that extends into incubating two black-owned businesses," the judges said.

• The Top Black-Owned SMME award went to Matthew Molobeng, who started Molobeng Mining and Labour Hire in 2007 with a view to help matriculants get direct training for jobs. 

"The firm specializes in haulage maintenance and rail installation.  It pursues mining operations in and around South Africa and supplies the industry with skilled and competent workers.  Currently it employs over 100 people with clear targets to grow that to 500 in the next five years. The firm is entirely managed and owned by black youth."

• The NGO of the Year went to Zenzele Training, a community-based project in Khayelitsha in the Cape with a focus on skills training that give unemployed solid technical skills such as sewing, woodwork and welding.

To date it has trained over 9,000 people in these fields and over 65% of its graduates are economically active. All graduates are given ongoing business mentorship and business skills, and allowed to use the facilities and gear as an incubator to get their businesses running. It recently has expanded to support graduates to start businesses, giving them the support and infrastructure to get them on their feet.

• The Top Black Business Leader of the Year is Nonkululeko Gobodo from Sizwe Ntsaluba Gobodo.

The first black woman chartered accountant in South Africa and a founding member of Gobodo Incorporated, she grew the business from a few trainee clerks in the Eastern Cape to an organisation with a staff of 450 with 7 regional offices. "She is a pioneer and visionary, who has used her skills and to build an organisation that contributes to the growth of black talent, and communities. She is well known for her leadership, integrity, forward-thinking and courage," the judges stated.

• The Top Black Public Sector Executive award went to Commander Tsietsi Mokhele, who was hailed for taking "the 14-year-old public entity that is the South African Maritime Safety Authority and totally revitalising it".

"When he took control in 2008 it was an organisation with no brand, no systems and a collapsed financial system.  He has revived the brand, has grown the organisation, grown the revenue and modernised its operations. This includes installing long range tracking technology and being awarded the contract to run a Marine Highway Project that will allow the Indian Ocean to be safely used by larger ships that currently use the Suez Canal".

• Netcare won three awards.

It was chosen for using 85% of its procurement spending on BEE compliant enterprises, which accounts for R6.7 million rand. The judges also stated that in 2011, Netcare spent R446 million rand developing skills in the nursing and pharmacy fields both for staff and unemployed youth. Its community projects include sponsored 'Smiles for You' surgery for 61 disadvantaged patients.

Party time:

A star-studded list of personalities and notable business leaders including the likes of the current Miss South Africa Melinda Bam, award-winning actor Clint Brink, Ayanda Vilakazi and Christopher Mashigo from the the Coega Development Corporation, Tyrone Naidoo, Executive Director at BEE Online and Thami Mtshali, CEO of iBurst joined the eloquent MC for the evening Siv Ngesi on stage to hand over the awards.

The evening was punctuated by the hip-swaying tunes of Tender Mavundla, the talented Idols finalist who also bravely revealed her HIV Positive status to South African viewers during the contest. Her silky voice kept the attendees entranced, among them Metro FM’s Azania Mosaka, ex-Miss SA Joan Ramagoshi, Menzi Ngubane from Generations, Sisa Hewana from Isidingo and Top Billing’s Lorna Maseko.

“These awards are not about a trophy, a badge or about a prize of any kind. Granted, previous winners have achieved landmark successes and closed deals in excess of R1.3 million post receiving an award, [but] it's about one thing, recognition. It’s about saying well done and thank you, we recognise you and applaud you for making a better South Africa for us all. It’s as simple as that. And that’s the bottom line,” said Fletcher about the awards.

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Sun May 19 07:22:23 SAST 2013 ::

May 4, 2012

GODESS

and BIDVEST?...
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May 4, 2012

MORNACHIESS

k@k awards.....nxa votsssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeek !
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May 4, 2012

SKIZOBANTWANA

Where is Billy Guy Bhembe's company...? ikuphi..? Black Child is impossible this time''
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May 4, 2012

swona

mmmmmmmmmm! ABSA group just fired more than 1200 black people on their IT dept
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May 4, 2012

swona

I really dont understand how did ABSA get to be norminated for the BEE
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May 4, 2012

swona

Big four bank Absa is redeploying all 1 600 staff members in its group IT division, telling them to reapply for positions across the company's operations as it reorganises the department.
Absa, a majority-owned subsidiary of UK-based Barclays Bank, employs 36 535 permanent staff. It turned over R45.8 billion in the year to December and reported R9.7 billion in headline earnings.

Staff costs increased 9%, although the number of employees declined by 1 570, because of attrition and a “continued focus on automation and efficiency initiatives,” notes Absa's results booklet for the period.

Finance union Sasbo, which is embroiled in a wage dispute with the bank, says Absa's reorganisation of its entire IT department affects all 1 600 staff, who have to reapply for their posts.

Job security

DEVELOPING STORY

IT staff accuse Absa of
mass retrenchment plan
Sasbo assistant general secretary Comfort Duma says the bank is attempting to match skills and competences with its requirements. He says some of the staff members may be outsourced to partners.Absa is performing due diligence to work out whether it needs to outsource some of the positions based on its needs and current skills supply, notes Duma. He says the bank will have to consult with the union if it decides to move staff outside of the bank.

Absa spent R5.3 billion on technology last year, an increase on 2010's R5 billion. Of this, R2.24 billion was spent on IT, R1.1 billion was spent on staff costs, and another R983 million went on “other”, according to its latest results.

Duma says the bank has been in consultation with the union for the past few weeks, but it has guaranteed that no one would lose their jobs. He says no employees have been retrenched yet, but should that happen, Sasbo will take Absa head on.

Duma anticipates that the reorganisation will take about three months.

Cost focus

The bank says IT staff are being reassigned and given an opportunity to apply for positions within the group and on the continent. Absa has an 80% stake in Barclays Bank Mozambique, owns Absa Namibia and a 55% share in the Tanzania National Bank of Commerce.

The re-application for jobs is in line with its “programme of integration with the rest of Africa and the efficiencies that derive from this process,” it says.

Absa says the process “does not amount to retrenchments, as affected employees are given the opportunity to apply for positions across the group”. It says “through developments in technology and processes, we continuously seek to improve output while reducing duplication”.

In the results booklet for the year to December, CE Maria Ramos said efficiency was an ongoing priority and that the bank had kept cost growth in single digits.

The bank says it has consulted all “interested parties” and it strives to “ensure that our employees remain a key focus for the group”.

Related stories:

Absa forces suppliers to cut costs

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Facts!!! 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand
And now? Insourcing 200 Gijima employees while the people on "garden leave" can still not apply for any vacancies within Absa? This makes no sense. Which Absa would be straight with their people. In todays Citizen all they could say regarding this was No comment, with Gijima saying they have signed a non desclosure document.......why????? if nothing funnny is going on?

A Like Reply 1 month ago 2 Likes F

Len 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand
I had 3 friends in there, i know 1 has left before he was pushed and I'm worried about the other 2......becasue they are all in IT.....

A Like Reply 2 months ago 0 Like F

Senior Developer 2 comments collapsed Collapse Expand
http://www.solidariteit-blog.c...

What was Cosatus involvement?

A Like Reply 2 months ago 0 Like F

Facts!!! 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand
Nothing as far as I know, maybe if they were they people would have united by now.


A Like Reply 2 months ago in reply to Senior Developer 0 Like F

Ares187007 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand
But look what they said one year ago.......
http://www.itweb.co.za/index.p...

A Like Reply 2 months ago 0 Like F
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May 4, 2012

swona

most if not all these people are black! did Trevor Manuel norminate this company?
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May 4, 2012

WebTeam

In answer to your questions, here's what the judges said about Absa -

"The ABSA Group is a level 3 BEE company that spends over R12 billion rand with BEE suppliers. It has established 12 small business enterprise development centres to offer black small and medium enterprises access to finance and has spent over R900 million rand funding the centres and advancing loans. That amount is almost 10 percent of net profit after tax. It also has a massive outreach programme that focuses on socio-economic development through its Absa Foundation. Its CSI spend increased to over 96 million in 2011. These are big numbers and show a commitment to funding empowerment that is organised, sustained and impressive."
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May 4, 2012

KeRataBasadi

This is k@k, anyway, even if you become the biggest BEE recipient, Jessica Leandra dos Santos will still think and call you a K2ffir.
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