The purpose of the Broad Based BEE scorecard is to encourage businesses to promote economic growth amongst the black population of South Africa.  By offering an incentive through the opportunity of additional business; the policy aims to firstly, encourage and secondly, promote economic growth.  Economic growth ultimately begins with skills development which involves training and development through Employment Equity and further flourishes with the development of new businesses.

 

The steps below will assist you in developing an internal scorecard so that you can gauge your efforts and requirements. EconoBEE is also able to assist you in earning the remaining points on the scorecard;  as well as preparing the right documentation to avoid conflicts during your BEE Audit and finally to submit a finalised BEE Certificate to your customers so you can gain more business!

 

Before the process can commence certain documentation is required to verify and categorise which BEE scorecard you will need to complete and how it will be evaluated. 

 

To determine ownership one needs to assess who are the shareholders of your business.  This document should include: shareholders name, % shareholding, BEE Status, gender, nationality and payment schedule of shares.  

 

A complete list of all employees and directors should be compiled to determine your Management and Employment Equity status.  The list should include information pertaining to the job category, BEE status, gender, nationality and disability status of all employees. 

 

For the evaluation of Skills Development efforts one needs to keep an updated list of all training provided for all staff; reflecting the type of training, expenditure, description of training outcome and employees names. 

 

Preferential Procurement is one of the best ways in which BEE compliance is encouraged.  Your suppliers BEE status is very important in this process therefore your annual procurement report should be broken down into a list of all suppliers, expenditure per supplier and of course, their BEE status.

 

List all the SME businesses who you assisted throughout the year.  For your Enterprise Development list to be complete it should include the following: company name, BEE Status, ownership status, spend and/or the type of contribution.

 

Also list all the charities to which you have made contributions throughout the year which will add to your socio-economic development score; but be sure to indicate the percentage of black beneficiaries, the spend and type of contribution.

 

Now that you have all the documentation ready; you can take the final steps to becoming a truly empowered company. 

 

Step 1: Understand the scorecard

You don't need to be an expert on BEE but it is very important that you understand what has to be done within your business to earn points and what you can do in future to earn additional points and improve your overall score. To gather an overview of the BEE Codes of Good Practice read our "5 min crash course to BEE" or attend one of a number BEE training sessions we have on offer.

 

Use the time you spend gathering your documentation to understand your business's BEE Status and how each item you gather affects your BEE Scorecard. Please remember the scorecard works through a series of targets and failing to reach some of these targets will not harm your business's BEE status substantially.

 

Step 2: Identify where will you be affected

Each element on the BEE scorecard affects different businesses in different ways. Ownership is often required when dealing with larger corporates or government yet others will require a higher score without worrying about the elements that were used. Compare yourself to your competitors and then determine what your customers require.  If you can beat your competitor, it is most likely that you will still have a good chance at earning the business.

 

Step 3: How can you earn points?

Once you know the impact of each aspect on your business it is now time to start earning points.

• Ownership points are earned by selling shares to black people.
• Management points are earned by appointing black top managers and directors
• Employment Equity Points are earned by employing junior/middle/senior managers and for smaller businesses black workers
• Skills Development points are earned by training employees through on the job training or formal training
• Preferential Procurement points are earned by purchasing goods and services from other businesses with a good BEE Scorecard
• Enterprise Development points are earned by assisting smaller black owned businesses to grow
• Socio-economic Development points are earned by supporting black social causes

 

Step 4: Collect documents and start earning points

Spending additional time to gather evidence to substantiate your BEE status is well worth the effort because any time spent here is saved in gathering the data later on during the final audit.

 

Step 5: Calculate an initial BEE Scorecard

Use a good BEE Scorecard calculator. An incorrect calculation could leave you thinking you will do better than is actually the case.

 

Step 6: Create a strategy report

Now that you know how many points you have earned, you now need to find a way to earn the remaining points.  Consider the availability of the points and the cost of each point before embarking on a "points scavenger hunt". This strategy should include your year-end points as well as your future scorecard points.

 

Step 7: Earn points based on the strategy

Follow your strategy and implement the items you diligently strategised.  During the implementation phase ensure that all of the final decisions make business sense and BEE sense.

 

Step 8: Prepare final scorecard rating

Update your scorecard calculation with all of the newly implemented transactions.

 

Step 9: Find additional points through a re-check process

If you require additional points find other avenues to do so. In many instances the easy points are not enough. Re-assess your status before moving onto the next stage.

 

Step 10: Scorecard Audit

BEE Verification can be extremely stressful. In particular when the agency has a different interpretation or, as is the case so often, do not fully understand the impact of their decisions.  If you have prepared well then you will have less difficulties. An appeal is always an option and can be done after the scorecard has been issued.

 

As a BEE Consultancy; EconoBEE has created the 10 Steps to BEE to help businesses follow a simple yet highly effective approach to become BEE Compliant. Our Complete Managed Service will help you, through a high level in-depth consulting process, achieve your BEE Goals. We will become your "outsourced" BEE Department capable of assisting you in all areas of the BEE Scorecard. Our software tools have been expertly designed to ensure quick service delivery and accuracy every time.

 

Call EconoBEE's offices today on 011 018 3200 or e-mail info@econobee.co.za. Further information about EconoBEE and the range of services offered is available on their website: www.econobee.co.za.

 

Ends. 

 

Issued By:	The Lime Envelope
On Behalf Of:	EconoBEE
For Media Information:	Angelique Meyer
Telephone:	011 704 7770
Email:	angelique@thelime.co.za