As evidence of MTN Group’s commitment to transformation in South Africa, we retained our Level 1 Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) contributor status for the 2022 financial year.

The rating is contained in the Group’s annual B-BBEE compliance report, in which major subsidiary MTN South Africa retained a Level 1 B-BBEE contributor status for the fourth year running.

The B-BBEE contributor status considers both the MTN South Africa operating entity and the MTN Group’s South African operating entities.

“In our work to create the MTN of tomorrow, we are committed to fulfilling our strategic priority to create shared value,” said MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita. “This incorporates a focus on increased localisation across our markets, including in South Africa where we were established at the dawn of democracy in 1994 as a leader in transformation.”

Notable improvements for the MTN Group in 2022 were in our ‘Management Control’ and ‘Preferential Procurement’ scores.

The ‘Management Control’ improvement was a result of the consistent alignment of MTN’s recruitment practices to the targets related to the economically active population (EAP) in South Africa. The improvement in the ‘Preferential Procurement’ score was mainly due to an increase in procurement spending with exempt micro enterprises (EMEs), qualifying small enterprises (QSEs) and ‘Designated Groups’.

“Retaining our Level 1 B-BBEE Contributor status is critical. We intend to take steps not only to retain this status in future but also to put more emphasis on our preferential procurement and localisation efforts,” Mupita said.

MTN South Africa CEO Charles Molapisi said a focus of preferential procurement will be the development of a new approach to Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) in MTN SA. “In the year ahead, we intend to drive an ambitious programme to enhance supply chain resilience, with B-BBEE and localisation at its core.”

“Key to this effort is to go beyond mere compliance to current legislation and rather to improve our ability to adapt to the ever-changing operating environment and the challenging economic conditions,” he added.