Corporate

Sustainable development at Corporate

Sustainable development at Corporate is about reaching a vision of what sustainability means to Bidvest within the context of a decentralised philosophy; communicating new thinking around sustainability to Bidvest divisions and their more than 100 000 staff worldwide; monitoring the company’s progress on this journey and driving key issues that merit a unified approach such as responses to the enduring shortage of managerial talent. 

Material sustainable development issues

• increasing awareness of the impact of corporate activity on society and the environment
• achieving coherence around sustainable business issues in a decentralised organisation
• improving Group measuring and monitoring systems

CORPORATE

In addition to head office functions to support Bidvest’s strategic mission, Corporate comprises Bidvest Properties, Ontime Automotive, 2010 Commercialisation, Bidvest Wits and MSC Sports.

Three continuing focus areas aimed at ensuring the long-term success of Bidvest are new business opportunities and their commercialisation, brand-building to underpin shareholder value and sustainability leadership.

• increase awareness of the impact of corporate activity on society and the environment
• achieve coherence around sustainable business issues in a decentralised organisation
• improve Group measuring and monitoring systems

New businesses and brand-building are dealt with in the annual report divisional review of Corporate.

Increasing awareness and achieving coherence

A key challenge in a fast-changing business environment is to keep over 100 000 staff members informed of new thinking, specifically to encourage a shift in the organisation’s approach to sustainable business. With increasing awareness come innovations, often initially piloted in a small part of the business, remote from the organisation at large. Sharing these ideas and business experiences and migrating them from individual innovation to an overall strategy that supports the proudly Bidvest brand is an important function at Corporate.

These aims are achieved through conferences and seminars, Bidvoice, the staff news magazine, the integrated intranet and website and electronic newsletters. Televised messages from the CE’s office put strategic issues into simple terms in support of the key proposition that ”together, we can make a difference”. The messages are broadcast to operations across South Africa.

In addition, the sustainability management structure is being strengthened, with more representation at company, division and Group level, allowing experiences to be shared and initiatives to be tested, compared with peers, improved and ultimately rolled out according to best practice.

Measurement and monitoring

The online Bidvest sustainability data toolkit for collecting sustainability data – first developed for South African businesses in 2008 – has been expanded to collate data for all operations and new fields added to accommodate the constantly changing sustainability landscape.  Although there are still areas for improvement, the toolkit currently collates information for more than 800 discrete data fields from 178 separate reporting entities, 43 of which are outside South Africa. This includes data required to monitor and manage Bidvest’s carbon footprint and performance against the DTI’s codes of good practice for broad-based black economic empowerment.

Our next big step is to ensure that we meet King III’s recommendation on quarterly reporting.  From our first 2010 quarter, all companies will be encouraged to use the toolkit, not only to collect and collate their sustainability data, but to help identify key sustainability risks and opportunities.  Roadshows to divisional officials responsible for gathering the data have improved understanding of sustainability and the merits of measuring our progress on this journey.

The Bidvest Academy

The Bidvest Academy, the Group’s talent incubator, has established itself as a proven mechanism for transferring practical leadership and business skills. The eighth academy programme was concluded and the first graduate programme completed. The graduate programme prepares managers, all of whom have been promoted since graduation, for a more senior role by introducing them to key strategic issues and the challenges of business sustainability.

The Academy can point to measurable success. Ninety-seven percent of students improved in at least one important leadership behaviour by a minimum of 20% during their time at the Academy.

More than 450 leaders have passed through the Academy, creating a new generation of high-energy executives committed to innovative thinking and the task of developing the potential of all employees. They have special focus on client relationships and the need for BEE innovation. Increasingly, global economic shifts are perceived as opportunities.

Over the past four years, the Academy has built a unique picture of the Group’s knowledge-base and is positioned to make an enduring contribution to the business.

Proudly Bidvest

We constantly seek new ways to put our ”Proudly Bidvest” positioning to work. The theme is becoming a fundamental element in the corporate culture, expressed as pride in our work, pride in our values, our quality, BEE achievements, job creation milestones and progress on our journey towards sustainability.