SMEs can play vital role in success of Refined BBB-BBEE Codes of Good Practice

Small and medium enterprises can now easily manage their Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) compliance requirements with the launch of LevelONE, a specialist B-BBEE software management tool.

Bruce Rowe, head of Mpowered Business Solutions, the developers of LevelONE, believes the new tool will enable SMEs to manage successful B-BBEE initiatives that have a positive impact on our nation’s social and economic development.

“The refined B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice will require companies to be even more deliberate about achieving compliance. With government’s focus on the SME sector as a key driver of broad economic growth in the long term, companies will need to quickly come to grips with the new requirements in order to drive the next decade of broad-based socio-economic development – for the betterment of all.”

According to a recent KPMG survey, more than 90% of companies believe the implementation of refined Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) codes will have a detrimental effect on their current rating level.

Rowe says small and medium enterprises that lack the skills of an internal B-BBEE specialist can harness the power of technology to navigate the sometimes tricky B-BBEE compliance process with minimal effort. “The new codes require that smaller businesses that have previously been able to measure on four scorecard elements only to now measure on all 5 scorecard elements. This can be a challenge if you don’t have expert in-house skills.”

LevelONE leverages Mpowered’s expertise and experience of delivering its flagship systems – Beetoolkit and Supplier Management System – to large corporates and state owned entities. “SMEs can generate standard verification pack reports via a single-click function. All supplier compliance data and evidence submitted by our large corporate clients, as well as those loaded directly by our rating agency partners – including Empowerdex, Empowerlogic, Premier and NERA – feed into LevelONE, resulting in extensive levels of process automation.”

In addition, a scenario planner will provide a forecasting function to identify and manage opportunities to improve on a company’s compliance levels, ensuring their transformation initiatives align with the principles of the refined B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice. “Now that the refined Codes of Good Practice are launched, we will also be able to use our in-house development team to update LevelONE in a matter of weeks, ensuring a seamless transition for clients across the board,” explains Rowe.

LevelONE is aimed at SMEs with an annual turnover of between R10-million and R250-million, and gives access to three users who can run three concurrent scorecards.
For more information about LevelONE and Mpowered, please visit www.mpowered.co.za