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VWSA leads the way in sourcing black suppliers V
olkswagen Group South Africa (VWSA) hosted its first ever Black-Owned Suppliers’ Day in Uitenhage last Thursday, where 45 black-owned manufacturing suppliers exhibited to over 400 delegates.
The event, which was attended by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies, and MEC for Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism in the Eastern Cape, Sakhumzi Somyo, presented a platform for companies that meet VWSA’s stringent supplier criteria to profile themselves to the local automotive industry. “The concept of this pioneering suppliers’ day in our industry originates from Volkswagen’s determination to expand its business to black-owned suppliers. “This will ensure that we continue to support the economic transformation in South Africa,” stated Thomas Schaefer, Chairman and Managing Director of VWSA, in his opening address. “Volkswagen takes the issue of procurement from black-owned suppliers as a priority from both a moral and legislative compliance perspective. “We understand government’s priority elements of the BBBEE codes and the drive for ownership. We, however, have difficulty complying with the Enterprise and Supplier Development element set out in the recentlyrevised BBBEE mandate. “This is not because we do not want to, but because it is virtually impossible given the scarcity of black-owned suppliers to the local automotive industry. In our case, this is compounded by our high level of local content in the manufacture of Polo and Polo Vivo,” explained Schaefer. VWSA contacted over 100 organisations, ranging from industry associations, organised businesses, business support bodies and government agencies, to request assist-
ance in compiling a list of potential suppliers. The contact list included companies from other industries such as Defence/Military, Agriculture, Mining, and Information Technology. As a result of this initiative, Volkswagen now has the first ever database of potential black suppliers to the industry and government agencies associated with the automotive industry. A total of 430 companies applied to be part of the event. Applications were assessed against a set of criteria and finally only 45 companies were approved to be exhibitors. In his speech Minister Davies complimented and thanked VWSA for their vision, for showing their commitment to transformation through action, and for providing insight into the challenges that the automotive industry faces in securing relationships with black-owned suppliers. One of the highlights of the day’s programme was a ministerial roundtable that discussed how black industrialists and blackowned suppliers could be assisted to be part of the automotive sector. <Langalakhe “Langa” Masango from the Durban based company Innova Wheels shows some of his alloy wheel designs. Masango also designs sport cars, passengers cars and functional components. He said most of his innovative work stems from a gap in various markets globally.
=Thomas Schaefer, Chairman and Managing Director of VWSA. PHOTOS:HEILIE COMBRINCK
The participants were: Minister Rob Davies; the CEO of the Black Business Council, Mohale Ralebitso; CEO of the Automotive Industry Development Centre, Dr David Masondo; and Philisiwe Mthethwa, the CEO of the National Empowerment Fund. Other high profile guests included the chief executives of Toyota, Ford and Mercedes in South Africa, who used the opportunity to visit the exhibition together with other players from the industry and familiarise themselves with the potential future suppliers exhibiting on the day. (Reporter)
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