At the leading edge of electric motor technology and related sectors, the Zest WEG Group is also innovating its empowerment initiatives by facilitating ownership of its shares by two black owned Non Profit Organisations (NPOs), which directly benefits communities in need. A subsidiary of the world’s leading motor and controls manufacturer WEG, the South Africa-based Zest WEG Group has taken this step to create a broader based and more sustainable ownership foundation for its compliance with the new BBBEE codes of goods practice.
The announcement says that the two NPOs, together with the company’s employees Trust, now hold 51.6% of Zest WEG Electric, the South African arm of the Zest WEG Group. One of the NPOs is in the education sector and the other in the micro-enterprise support sector.
Zest WEG Group CEO Louis Meiring says that not only will many of the beneficiaries of the NPOs be black women, but the arrangement will sustain the good work of these NPOs into the future.
Left to right: Louis Meiring, Nicky Hariparfad (CFO of Zest WEG Group) and Juliano Vargas.
“Significantly, the achievement of our Level 2 BBBEE status is certainly one of the best in our market sector, and we believe this initiative breaks new ground for empowerment in South Africa,” he adds. “It provides a model for sustainable collaboration between business and civil society while forging a more effective implementation of the original intentions of the country’s BBBEE philosophy.”
Zest WEG Group provides a range of skills development resources to schools, universities and the broader community including teaching, equipment, financial aid and infrastructure. These aim to develop local talent and capacity, bringing young learners into the business and industry.
Juliano Vargas, the group’s logistics and operations director, says the organisation’s close relationships with these communities allow the identification and nurturing of talent from an early stage.
“With our double-digit growth, even through the recent downturn, our business is creating opportunities for job seekers, and we prepare them well to replenish the positions that our expansion requires,” says Vargas.
Skills are developed in-house through apprenticeships, internships and mentoring in various disciplines and are sometimes also supported with study bursaries. These processes in turn promote employment equity as potential managers and leaders can be identified and developed. The company also works hard to bring small, local suppliers into the Zest WEG Group’s value chain, by developing their capacity to deliver and to become sustainable.
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