New rating shows commitment to transformation and paves the way for sustainable business development in the South African market

Westcon-Comstor Sub-Saharan Africa, a value-added distributor of leading ICT solutions, has attained a Level 1 B-BBEE (Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment) rating in South Africa, moving from level 3 to level 1 in just under two years. 

The company’s commitment to development, diversity and equity representation has paved the way for this milestone. Not only is the business more than 51% black owned, it also boasts more than 30% black woman ownership, exceeding all requirements.

“Achieving Level 1 B-BBEE shows our commitment to South Africa and that we take the government’s direction on B-BBEE seriously by embedding its strategic objectives into every aspect of our organisation. Outside of our shareholding, we have created jobs and learnerships, and provided opportunities for smaller companies to provide services to us with a focus on the development of SMME partners to execute in the IT market,” states Rakesh Parbhoo, CEO at Westcon-Comstor Sub-Saharan Africa.

Westcon-Comstor’s partners, customers and vendors are working with a value-added distributor that made improvements to its business through a strategic and committed approach to transformation. 

‘’Our Level 1 B-BBEE certification provides customers a way to increase their own ratings by recognising spend with us in their scorecards. For our vendors we highlight that they are in partnership with a distributor that has removed any roadblocks in taking their products to market,’’ adds Parbhoo.

According to Parbhoo the attainment of this rating is not just a certification, but also a recognition of the investment the company has made in its people and the upliftment programmes and initiatives it has deployed and developed across all pillars of the B-BBEE codes.

“We are exceptionally proud of this achievement and our thanks goes out to the individuals and teams in the business who took ownership of driving this goal and worked tirelessly to create the programmes and mechanisms to make it work. Ensuring compliance through the programmes we have developed is not just a tick box for Westcon-Comstor, it has become central to our business DNA and we are committed to continuous improvement through transformation,” ends Parbhoo.