An analysis of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) owned companies’ success stories

Abstract

Black business community participated in SA economy for survival purposes rather than for prosperity and contribution to its development at large. The rest of the black population formed a labour pool as a race-based lumpenproletariat. It is only in 1993 that BEE was introduced to dramatically reform the economy by including all races. The aim of the study was to determine BEE owned company success factors given the criticism and challenges faced. A qualitative, exploratory study was undertaken to gain in-depth knowledge from thirteen BEE experts through semi-structured interviews. The respondents were selected by way of purposive and snowball sampling and the highest combined total NAV of the BEE owned companies studied is over R92 Billion. The study found that at a macro-economic level for economic empowerment to succeed, political, psychological, economic and social powers need to be present. At a micro-economic level access to funding, skills and value creation is instrumental in ensuring BEE ownership succeeded. White corporates also had to be involved to de-racialise the economy. To this effect a model was developed which maps out a blueprint for BEE owned company success. It is the recommendation of the study that BEE-owned companies should continuously innovate to fuel growth