The ICT (Information Communication and Technology) Sector is one of the fast-growing sectors in the B-BBEE landscape. Entities that fall within the ICT scope of application are pressured to participate in the B-BBEE Process.
In terms of the Sector Code, an ICT entity will be an entity that operates within the following definition:
The Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Sector” shall without, in any way, limiting the ordinary meaning of the terms, mean the sector in which employers and employees are associated for the carrying on of any one or more of the following activities:
Marketing, manufacturing, assembling, servicing, installing, maintaining and/or repairing systems, software, equipment, machines, devices and apparatus, whether utilising manual, photographic, optical mechanical, electrical, electrostatic or electronic principles or any combination of such principles, that are primarily intended for the recording and/or processing and/or monitoring and/or transmission of voice and/or data and/or image and/or text or any combination thereof.
The above applies for the use in any one or more of the following activities:
Accounting, calculating, data processing, data transmission, duplicating, text processing, document reproduction, document transmission, record keeping and record retrieval, broadcasting or transmission for entertainment or information purposes of voice and/or image and/or text or any combination thereof and/or; the provision of services relating to the above.
Today we will look at what is required in terms of the Enterprise, Supplier Development and Socio-Economic Development indicators for an ICT entity.
All Generic, and QSE’s (who do not qualify for an automatic affidavit), will have to look at the Enterprise, Supplier and Socio-Economic Development indicators.
The target for Supplier Development on both the QSE and Generic scorecard is 2% of the entity’s Net Profit after Tax (NPAT) amount. A QSE entity can obtain up to 5 points on the scorecard, whereas a Generic entity can obtain up to 10 points.
The Enterprise Development targets differ on the QSE and Generic scorecards. The QSE scorecard’s target is 2% of the entity’s NPAT amount, whereas the target on the Generic scorecard is 3% of the entity’s NPAT amount. All Enterprise Development contributions are sector-specific, which means to obtain the points, the contributions must be made towards a Black-owned ICT Entity. A QSE entity can obtain up to 5 points on the scorecard for Enterprise Development, and a Generic entity can obtain up to a maximum of 15 points.
With Socio-Economic Development, the targets are also different between the QSE and Generic scorecards. The QSE scorecard’s target is 1% of the entity’s NPAT amount, whereas the target on the Generic scorecard is 1,5% of the entity’s NPAT amount. An entity can achieve up to 12 points for Socio-Economic Development on both the QSE and Generic scorecards. It is a requirement that all Socio-Economic Development spend must be spent on ICT sector-specific initiatives to obtain these points.
A QSE entity can therefore achieve up to a maximum of 22 points on the scorecard should they obtain full points on all three of these elements. A Generic entity can achieve up to a maximum of 37 points on the scorecard.
Contact your nearest SEESA to find out how you can achieve your desired B-BBEE status. Alternatively, leave your contact details on our website, and a SEESA representative will contact you.
About The Author:
Lezé Jonker started her career at SEESA in 2017. She is currently a BEE and Labour Legal Advisor at the SEESA Port Elizabeth office. She graduated with an LLB degree from UNISA.
Resources:
- The Amended ICT Sector Charter gazetted on 7 November 2016;
- Gerelene Van Wyk ICT Manual.