In 1985, the market regarded Hans Enderle as foolhardy when he resigned from the helm of one of South Africa’s leading hotel chains to launch a new concept in short-stay accommodation. However, by 1990, his City Lodge select service hotel concept boasted seven hotels, with 1 000 rooms. By 2015, the hotel group’s portfolio had risen to 55 hotels and annual turnover had reached more than R1 billion.

By December 2006, Capitec Bank, South Africa’s newest listed retail bank, had come a long way from its origins as a microlending organisation in 2001. Over time it had started introducing other banking services to its entry-level clients, so that by 2006 it offered all basic banking services. Capitec’s chief executive for marketing and corporate affairs, Carl Fischer, considered the organisation’s strategic plan for 2007: to position itself as a proper bank in a much broader target market.

Irene Ivy-Schuurmans and Dale Kneen started the Cape Herb and Spice Company in 1992, selling their wares from a modest barrow at the Cape Town Waterfront. They were housemates with full-time jobs, but both were passionate about cooking “wacky, creative and unusual” gourmet food with interesting herbs and spices that weren’t commercially available.

In January 2009, young entrepreneurs Ayanda Qunu and Thembi Bhayi abandoned their plans to start a fully owned contact centre, Yahluma Solutions Ltd, in Buffalo City in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Even with the assistance of a financial incentive from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to encourage the establishment of business process outsourcing and offshoring (BPO&O) businesses, they asked themselves: could they have competed globally and locally? Was their decision to abandon their plans correct?

No of pages: 12 pages

It was June 2010 and Dave van Niekerk, the chief executive officer (CEO) of micro-lending company Blue Financial Services (BFS), had just handed in his resignation. BFS, which listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange AltX  in 2006, had in less than four years expanded its operations to 15 African countries from an original five and employed more than 3 000 people. During this time, however, the company had faced escalating problems that had resulted in a write-off of more than R1 billion and a share price – which had reached a high of 700 cents – dropping to 15 cents.

The objective of this note is to define black economic empowerment (BEE) and understand its context in South Africa. The reasons for black economic empowerment and the enabling legislation are discussed. The note also addresses the impact of black economic empowerment on South African businesses, as well as some of the challenges faced at the time this note was written.

No.of pages: 17

In December 2008, Charlene Lewison, marketing director of the Johannesburg-based family business, Birdi Golf Apparel, surveyed the company’s well-stocked shelves with pride – but also with a growing sense of unease. In the past 12 years, Birdi had become an established brand on both the professional and amateur golf circuits in South Africa.

In November 2009, bidorbuy was the largest South African online marketplace. Following a failed attempt earlier in the year to purchase bidorbuy, kalahari.net – a subsidiary of Naspers and a highly successful online retailer – indicated that it was going to compete directly with bidorbuy as an online marketplace. Andy Higgins, managing director of bidorbuy, was a firm believer that, if his company could reach a certain level of wide-scale popularity, it would virtually be impossible for a newcomer to compete.

The objective of this note is to define black economic empowerment (BEE) and understand its context in South Africa. The reasons for black economic empowerment and the enabling legislation are discussed. The note also addresses the impact of black economic empowerment on South African businesses, as well as some of the challenges faced at the time this note was written.

No. Pages: 14 

One of the most important black economic empowerment events of the period 2004 to 2009 was the promulgation of the Broad-based Black Economic Codes of Good Conduct (the Codes) in February 2007. In 2004, when the Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Act 2003 (the 2003 Act) was promulgated, it provided a legal framework on which to base fair and equitable participation in private sector organisations by the widest possible number of black South Africans. The 2003 Act was the culmination of a long debate and subsequent legislative process.