ANOTHER BEE MILESTONE
Under the current black economic empowerment (BEE) legislation, The Preferential Procurement Element (Code 500), as set out in the Code of Good Practice, measures the extent to which South African companies buy goods and services from suppliers with strong BEE procurement recognition levels. This requires that companies that wish to be BEE compliant spend 70% of their procurement with other BEE compliant organisations. Even for smaller enterprises, the Qualifying Small Enterprises (QSE) scorecard requires a 50% spend. As preferential procurement is worth 20 points on the BEE scorecard, Air Products South Africa is pleased that it has achieved Level 4 BEE compliance after an audit conducted in November 2009.
Air Products South Africa has shown its commitment to the objectives of BEE by gaining a rating of 70.02% for the year 2009/2010. This makes Air Products a Value-Adding Enterprise, which means that companies procuring from Air Products South Africa qualify for a 25% enhancement. This adds to the 100% already achieved which means 125% of the BEE procurement parameter normally attributed to Level 2 contributors to BEE.
As a good corporate citizen, the company fully embraced the spirit of BEE, which has been demonstrated by year-on-year improvements it has made in the BEE codes of good practice. In 2008, the company moved its BEE rating from 61.06% to 66.47%, this also being achieved on the back of improvements in the majority of the codes of good practice. At Air Products South Africa, we have made a concerted effort over a number of years to embrace the principles of BEE. For this reason, we are particularly proud of our Level 4 achievement.
Air Products South Africa has identified education as a particular area of focus and believes that the future prosperity of the country will be to a large extent dependent on how well the country educates its citizens. Although it is essential to observe the laws of the land, Air Products South Africa’s commitment to BEE goes beyond mere compliance. We believe that our future depends on our ability to harness the talent and energy of our entire nation’s people. Therefore, amongst others, we will continue our focus on education, both internally and externally, supporting projects to provide opportunities to disadvantaged communities and individuals.
We are cognisant of the fact that this high level of accomplishment is not something that will allow us to rest on our laurels, and we constantly plan and strategise to take these standards to new heights.
Published on February 2, 2010 in Company News, Spotlight |