A Black Business Council better able to press for transformation

A week ago, I finished my three-year tenure as president of the Black Business Council (BBC), the apex organisation representing black business and professionals with a view to mainstreaming black participation in the economy.

I finished only my leadership tenure, not my association with the BBC — I will continue as an ordinary member, as will Zungu Investments Company, my company — because I believe in the mission of the BBC.

Reflecting on the decade-long journey, I think it has been worth it; one has made one’s contribution to ensuring that the mission of getting black professionals and black business — large and small — to participate in the mainstream economy is fulfilled.

As the interim leadership in 2011, our task was simple but arduous: we had to travel around SA, getting all formations ready for the elective conference, which was to take place in August 2012. A new leadership was elected and I would later be elected secretary-general and, two years on, deputy president of the organisation. In 2018 I was elected president on a three-year mandate.

Cleaning up the organisation’s image was a top priority. It was mired in fraud allegations involving sponsors’ funds. This is now the subject of a criminal case. Thankfully, considerable progress has been made in enhancing the BBC’s reputation among its stakeholders. Speaking out against wrongdoing was a key part of this reputational rebuild project. During this early period, our ambition was to ensure that the BBC’s voice was heard and taken seriously.

We needed to secure a seat at the main table, as it were, not near the door in the same room. We also needed to reset our relationships with various stakeholders, including other organised business formations, political parties and, of course, all spheres of the government.

This wasn’t easy, but the outcome is fulfilling. It’s heartening to complete my tenure with these relationships — based on mutual respect and benefit — on a better footing than they were when I became president.

The BBC is now taken seriously by government departments — from the presidency through the economic cluster and social cluster departments.

Through our influence we have participated in shaping a few progressive policies. These have included lobbying for amendments to the Competition Act and the Preferential Procurement Policy, which have yet to be implemented, and helping the new department of small business development to find its feet after being carved out of the department of trade & industry.

We needed to secure a seat at the main table, as it were, not near the door in the same room

This was made possible by the investment we made in building policy and research capability. When Covid-19 hit our shores in March 2020, we were a go-to voice for black business and professionals’ perspective. We worked with the government and other role players in shaping a comprehensive socioeconomic response to the pandemic to cushion both households and firms as well as workers from the pandemic.

Among others, we lobbied hard for the inclusion of non-banking players in the credit loan guarantee scheme backstopped by the National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank, for transparency in its operations, and that it wasn’t abused. We pushed strongly for black business to be part of the suppliers of personal protective equipment. As with other crises, some unscrupulous individuals exploited this public health emergency to line their pockets at the expense of the poor.

But our aim was always to get black business and professionals to think beyond winning tenders from government departments and state-owned enterprises. We sought to get black entrepreneurs to aspire to grow from small to big enterprises. This mindset is gaining traction.

There are many unfinished business items that will require the urgent attention of the new leadership. But the foundation has been laid. Organisationally, the BBC needs to strengthen its advocacy capability to challenge the anti-transformation brigade, which routinely seeks to frustrate efforts by the government to advance the transformation project.

An apex organisation is as strong as its affiliates. In this regard, the BBC needs to support its affiliates to overcome their challenges. Getting the preferential procurement policy implemented is another key priority. It is also vitally important that the broad-based BEE commission is given the teeth to clamp down on fraud and fronting. Until a fraudster is jailed, the commission will struggle to be taken seriously.

At a macroeconomic level, the BBC needs to continue working collaboratively with other role players to find durable solutions to the problems of high unemployment, inequality and poverty.

These problems — including an untransformed economy that works for a few, not the majority — represent the most serious threat to social stability.

For my part, I will continue to make my modest contribution as a patriot towards finding solutions to our country’s problems.

• Zungu is immediate past president of the Black Business Council and founder of Zungu Investments Company, which owns AmaZulu Football Club