09 February 2009
Anglo American increases BEE spend by 42% in 2008
Anglo American South Africa and its independently managed subsidiaries report a procurement and enterprise development spend of R24,6 billion for consumables, services and capital with black-owned and managed small and medium businesses (SMEs) for 2008.
Anglo American’s small and medium enterprise development
and empowerment initiative, known as Anglo Zimele, aims to empower
black entrepreneurs through the creation and transformation of
SMEs.
Key facts and highlights
- Total BEE procurement spend and enterprise development up 42%
to R24,6 billion for 2008 (2007: R17,3 billion).
- Highest amount spent is Anglo Platinum (R9,9 billion), followed
by Anglo Coal (R4,8 billion) and Kumba Iron Ore (R2,2
billion).
- The procurement spend equates to 37% of total available spend
(excluding goods and services from parastatals and
municipalities).
- During 2008, Anglo Zimele, Anglo American’s enterprise
development unit, invested in nine new companies through its Supply
Chain Fund, while its junior mining investment arm Anglo Khula
Mining Fund invested in two new mining ventures.
- Anglo American’s most recently established fund, the
Small Business Start-Up Fund, approved 179 loan transactions for
small businesses to the value of R51,9 million as at end December
2008. This funding provided seed and working capital for
rural-based SMEs to play a sustainable role in their respective
communities in the proximity of Anglo American’s operations.
The enterprises collectively employ 1,647 people.
- On the enterprise development front, the collective turnover by
the 228 companies in the Anglo Zimele Supply Chain Fund, Small
Business Start-Up Fund and Anglo Khula Mining Fund portfolios
amounted to R1,3 billion which, added to the procurement spend of
R23,3 billion, totals R24,6 billion.
- Anglo American’s cumulative BEE procurement spend since
1993 has reached some R79,1 billion. The BEE procurement spend of
R24,6 billion also includes R2,5 billion by De Beers (excluded in
2007 figures); R2,8 billion for Tongaat-Hulett and Hulamin
accounted for under the BEE Codes of Good Practice.
Commenting on the Group’s performance in the SME sector,
Anglo American South Africa Head, Kuseni Dlamini, said: "It is
through supporting deserving and passionate entrepreneurs
that Anglo makes a wider, meaningful and lasting contribution to
the efforts to erase poverty and unemployment and contributes to
sustainable and inclusive economic growth and development in South
Africa. Since 1999, we have made a significant contribution to BEE
procurement and business development and I am immensely proud of
the opportunity which Anglo American has afforded the deserving
entrepreneurs through the Anglo Zimele funds. Our dedication to
investing in local suppliers and focusing on local enterprise
development is evident by our record BEE procurement and enterprise
development spend for 2008."
South Africa
Pranill Ramchander, Media Relations
Tel: +27 (0)11 638 2592
Notes to Editors:
Anglo American plc is one of the world’s
largest mining groups. With its subsidiaries, joint ventures and
associates, it is a global leader in platinum group metals and
diamonds, with significant interests in coal, base and ferrous
metals, as well as an industrial minerals business. The Group is
geographically diverse, with operations in Africa, Europe, South
and North America, Australia and Asia.
(www.angloamerican.co.uk)
Anglo Zimele Supply Chain Fund has been a
successful facilitator and mentor of emerging black business and
the entrepreneurs that drive them for two decades. The word Zimele
is derived from the African languages Zulu and Xhosa and is
translated as “to be independent” or “to stand on
one’s own feet”.
Small Business Start-up Fund was founded in
October 2007 to aid local economic development, employment creation
and poverty alleviation in the communities surrounding Anglo
American’s operations.
Anglo Khula Mining Fund, a R200 million joint
initiative between Anglo American and Khula Enterprise Finance, a
Department of Trade and Industry undertaking. The objective of this
fund is to provide financial assistance to fledgling mining
ventures during the pre-feasibility stage of a project. This
includes exploratory drilling, the preparation of environmental
reports as well as applications for permits and mining
licences.
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