SAP South Africa is to issue 19,5% of its shares to a broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) Trust that will distribute dividends to beneficiaries who will use the funds to cover education costs at accredited institutions.
By using these dividends for education purposes, the beneficiaries of The SAP South Africa Empowerment Trust will obtain long term sustainable economic self-sufficiency.
This move, a first of its kind for a multinational company in the IT sector in South Africa, comes on top of SAP South Africa’s existing 10,5% ownership by broad-based black IT organisation, BLITEC. The development announced today means that SAP South Africa achieves the required 30% ownership target in the BBBEE Codes applicable to South African IT companies.
SAP South Africa has identified the Johannesburg-based Maharishi Institute at which The SAP Empowerment Trust beneficiaries are enrolled [for post-standard degrees] with accredited partner educational institutions as an entity that provides not only access to an effective education but also provides the relevant life-skills and ethos that assist in transforming previously disadvantaged graduates to market-ready accomplished individuals.
The Maharishi Institute is a non-profit organisation that, through innovative methods, provides tertiary education in the areas of finance, technology infrastructure, life skills and bridging. The institute has had close to 100% placement rate of graduates into full time jobs for many thousands of previously disadvantaged students through accredited partners.
“Partnering with SAP in this way is game-changing for the Maharishi Institute,” comments Dr Taddy Blecher, CEO of the Maharishi Institute in South Africa. “We are a non-profit group that has exclusively served disadvantaged individuals for 35 years with a focus on youth in South Africa. We have seen the power of facilitating access to post-secondary education bringing employment to over 14 000 [previously unemployed] individuals who are now breadwinners for over 70 000 family members.
“The beneficiaries of The SAP South Africa Empowerment Trust will increase this number and, working together, we will change the lives of the beneficiaries by giving them meaningful life-skills and bringing them into the information technology sector and the wider corporate business world in South Africa and the global economy. SAP has always been a game-changing company. It is forward-thinking and takes its leadership position seriously. We feel the profound choice the company has made in its BEE ownership is an investment into previously disadvantaged beneficiaries and through them, into the future of South Africa for all time.”
