“The Trust will do this by primarily providing financial assistance and where required, non-financial assistance such as business development growth and accessing markets through supplier development relationships,” he explained. “This advice and support will be given to qualifying black-owned suppliers as well as white suppliers that are interested in becoming black-owned.”
Although the Trust carries the name of VWSA, the B-BBEE Initiatives Trust is managed independently of VWSA by a Board of Trustees. The Trustees are: Siphamandla Ndawonde, entrepreneur and part of government’s Black Industrialist Programme; Frans Nortje, strategist and researcher who recently concluded research on the implementation of culture-sensitive improvement and transformation models in South African; and Nonkqubela Maliza, director of corporate and government affairs at VWSA. VWSA said it has already made a contribution to the Trust. It added that the first investment of R22 million that was made by the Trust went to local supplier Acoustex to assist with business growth and development. “The aim of the Volkswagen B-BBEE Initiatives Trust is to support at least three other suppliers in 2017,” Schaefer said. “VWSA continues to view the procurement from black-owned suppliers as a priority from both a moral and legislative compliance perspective,” he said. “Therefore, the initial investment of R86 million shows that we as a company are committed to supporting and empowering black-owned suppliers in the automotive industry through this independent Trust and other company based initiatives. “We encourage corporates throughout all industry sectors to get involved,” he added.
