Fusion SA shoots for the stars with BBBEECAPE TOWN, South Africa – 12 June 2007

The company is a 100 per cent foreign-owned subsidiary, doesn’t do any business with government, and has little flexibility over the spending of the majority of its procurement budget. But it will nevertheless attain a 63-point BEE score and an 80 per cent-rating by the end of 2008, enough cause for envy from corporate SA, which has struggled to find the skills, partners and causes to match their BEE strategies.

“The secret, if it’s any kind of secret, is to have the will and make the effort to contribute to the uplift of the country,” says Director of Fusion SA, Johann Kunz. “Many companies in South Africa have longer-term targets than ours. Indeed, the DTI’s Codes of Good Practice specify dates ranging beyond the World Cup. But we’re going to be quick off the starting blocks. It is not only very achievable, if we do it right, but also very necessary in the greater scheme of things.”

Kunz says Fusion’s BBBEE Charter is greatly supported by the close alignment of the company’s transformation and business strategies. The Fusion BBBEE Charter has the following key elements: building a talent pipeline (skills and management), enterprise and social development within the community wherein it operates, and a broad-based approach in adhering to most of the elements in the Codes.

Says Kunz: “We believe we are part of a broader grassroots movement in favour of responsible corporate citizenship, bolstering corporate sustainability, in reaching out to a broad range of disadvantaged groups.” The company’s total BBBEE commitment in 2008 will be R5 million. 

•Development
To ensure diverse representation at all levels and compliance with the Employment Equity Act, Fusion has devised a Talent Pipeline as a core business driver. The company will develop black representation at exco and managerial level. “This is preferable to recruiting, which doesn’t add to the country’s talent pool, but merely shifts it around,” says Kunz. Several high-potential candidates have been identified for an all-inclusive development programme and a fast-tracked senior management programme.

Apart from this, the company as a skills levy paying member will continue its relationship with Services SETA. It took on 48 learners in 2007 and more than 69% of learners completed their learnership at Fusion. More than 30% are now employed by the company.

In 2008 Fusion started with the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) programmes and is currently completing the first fifty RPL programmes for permanent employees.

The company will also seek accreditation against national unit standards for all its training and development programmes. In-house training will be classified as contributory towards a formal qualification.

Lastly, Fusion will establish a Study Assistance programme available to all permanent employees. The programme will be designed to allow staff the opportunity to develop a skill that is in line with the company’s business needs.  

•Preferential procurement
The recipients of Fusion’s two greatest items of expenditure, telephony and rental, are out of its hands. Instead it has allocated a discretionary amount of R250 000 to preferential procurement with micro businesses that are 100 per cent women-owned. In addition, it will spend 80 per cent of non-essential procurement with 100 per cent black-owned businesses by 2010.

•Enterprise development
Fusion will sponsor a rent-free Car Wash business on its new premises, to be operated by a previously disadvantaged individual. Fusion will set up the facility and provide ongoing training and accounting support. All revenue will be for the operator’s.

•Socio-economic development
In recognition of the wider socio-economic environment in which it operates, Fusion will seek to do more than just write cheques, says Kunz. “We want to contribute to changing the environment in which we operate.” The company will, with financial assistance and staff volunteer work, support the work of Habitat for Humanities, a non-profit non-governmental organisation that works in partnership with communities to eliminate poverty through providing low-cost housing. Sponsorship covers the cost of the house at R68 000.  The structural building takes approximately 7 days.  A different Fusion team will be allocated per day to part-take in the construction.