October 4, 2005
By Ndaba Dlamini
IN a groundbreaking move, the City has set up a database of black business suppliers in an effort to broaden the economic participation of black entrepreneurs in the local economy.
The database will be launched at the Metro Centre in Braamfontein on Wednesday, 5 October.
Councillor Parks Tau, the mayoral committee member responsible for finance, strategy and economic development in the City, Linda Vilakazi-Tselane, programme manager of skills development in the finance and economic development unit, and Thokozani Thwala, programme manager: investment facilitation and BEE portfolio in the unit, will officiate.
The database comes from a need to provide comprehensive and reliable information on black enterprises. Currently, there is no officially approved body collecting and maintaining data on black business.
So far about 3 500 companies of Gauteng-based black entrepreneurs are already registered on the database, according to Thwala.
"The database has been developed according to the different BEE categories: companies that are 51 percent black-owned or 25.1 percent black-influenced and black women-owned. The whole initiative is aimed at creating opportunities for these black companies in terms of procurement and spend within the Joburg economy."
The data will be linked to the City of Johannesburg's website so that companies not based in Johannesburg will have access to the information.
At the moment, the City is verifying the ownership of the named companies to ensure there is no "fronting", "a situation where white-owned companies mislead potential clients and buyers by claiming to be black-owned," according to Thwala.
"This is a public service provided by the City in its efforts to develop and promote black-owned entrepreneurs."
Buyers looking for black suppliers will have also have free access to such companies, says Thwala.
"The City also invites corporate partners, as well as other spheres of government, to support this historic initiative. We hope that initiatives like the Gauteng Shared Services Centre will also procure their goods and services via the BEE database."
The City will go all out to put monitoring mechanisms in place to check the progress of all companies that are on the database, in terms of their bottom line.
Companies not yet on the database are invited to register for free. Prospective clients and suppliers can log on to www.joburgbsd.co.za or contact Thokozani Thwala on 011 358 3692 or email thokozanit@joburg.org.za.
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