Bytes Technology Group (Bytes), part of the Altron Group, is proud to announce that it is officially South Africa's most empowered JSE-listed information and communications technology (ICT) company, according to the 2007 Financial Mail / Empowerdex Top Empowerment Companies rankings.
The company moved up from number four last year, and came out on top with an overall BEE score of 66.90, beating companies such as MTN, Business Connexion, Telkom and Mustek.
Overall, Bytes' position improved by two places from number 10 in 2006 to number eight this year. Skip Franzsen, Bytes' group human resources and transformation manager, says the jump in the group's ranking is positive proof that the company's efforts towards improving its BEE compliance are paying dividends.
"Bytes as a group have invested a lot of time, money and effort in our BEE strategy. Our empowerment partnership with Kagiso enabled us to get ahead of the pack, and other moves, such as having our own internal training company so that we can run learnerships, have kept us there," he says. "What is more important is that we believe the Bytes position at a procurement level four or better is fully sustainable in the medium term."
Companies in the survey are ranked according to a set of criteria, including ownership, employment equity, skills development, preferential procurement, enterprise development and CSI initiatives. The scores for each category are added together to get a final BEE score.
"Our enterprise development and CSI initiatives have always been a big focus for the group, and this has paid off in our final score. As an example, in CSI we have many ongoing projects in which we work at bridging the digital divide in education at underprivileged schools. We have adopted or are working with 16 schools across the country, providing them with technology and skills transfer to use this technology. If we can't make a difference as a leading IT company with computer technology in education, who can?" adds Franzsen.
The group scored highly overall, as it takes an overall approach to BEE without focusing exclusively on any one aspect. This has led to consistent improvement year on year for the group's score.
Concludes Franzsen: "There is always room for improvement. We will be looking to better our numbers in areas where we did not score highly, and continue to grow in areas where we are already doing well. That having been said, we are all immensely proud of our achievement."
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