Transformational leadership way to go for BEE in Nam

WINDHOEK – The president of the South Africa Business Enterprise Forum (Sabef), Lebo Gunguluza, says transformational leadership in Namibia is the way to go to implement a holistic black economic empowerment (BEE) approach.

Namibia has not yet finalised a BEE policy.Speaking at a stakeholders’ gala dinner in Windhoek on Thursday organised by the Namibia Tourism Board (NTB), Gunguluza said leaders have to strive to make their businesses learning organisations, which require dynamism, rather than the maintenance mentality that has dominated South Africa in the beginning of the BEE process.’BEE needs to be seen as a compliance issue, it should be seen as a business strategy for the new times. Companies must ensure that their marketing teams, customer service and other critical teams are diversified to reflect the demographic… reality of Namibia.’According to Gunguluza, between 2000 and 2005, a total of N$250 billion was transferred via BEE transactions in South Africa, with only dozens who benefited.SA’s BEE overview has seven elements, being ownership, management control, employment equity, skills development, preferential procurement, enterprise development and socio-economic development.Gunguluza emphasised that the BEE focus became narrow-based, contributing largely to only two of the seven elements, namely ownership and skills development. Many enterprises also adopted a wait-and-see approach, coupled with the fact that big corporates started with the elements of broad-based BEE (BB-BEE) that had the most direct benefits to their enterprises.Perceived constrains to the process of BB-BEE are that during the first phase, only the politically connected and educated group of black elite benefited, without sufficiently addressing the broader economic empowerment of the masses; the South African government spent too much time and resources on codes of good practices and sector charters, rather than looking at successful avenues of implementation; creating an industry of consultants; uneasiness of white businesses around the impact of BB-BEE to their businesses and economy; the general percentage of skills shortages of suitably qualified black job entrants; and direct and indirect fronting practices, which have crippled BEE efforts.’Big companies need to pay attention to ensure that strategic projects are staffed appropriately. SABEF advises that succession planning should require every key project to have black staff members involved, either in management or as an understudy to the project leader,’ he noted.Gunguluza furthermore pointed out that if a country mainly focuses on BEE legislation, the charters and compliances like in South Africa will do nothing more than to frustrate the efforts of economic transformation in Namibia.It would only expose it to socio-economic instability and great discrepancy between the rich and poor, which will stop Namibia from realising full growth potential. – Nampa