Stakeholder engagement

Bidvest Academy Programme

The Bidvest Academy is a non-accredited, Group-wide training and development programme to foster strategic skills. Each academy consists of approximately 55 delegates in teams of eight, each team representing a division of the company. Candidates are typically managers over a functional area within divisional companies, working to prepare for transition to general management. Each team comprises a balance of skills and management experience across different disciplines (sales, marketing, manufacturing, finance and administration) and a mix of race and gender. Each team is required to complete a business project linked to their team’s division. A final presentation is made by each team to the board of directors at the final workshop.

The Academy is an ongoing, ‘rolling’ initiative. Workshops take place in the major centres, including site visits to selected Bidvest companies. Bidvest executives and selected external speakers present and facilitate key elements of the programme. The programme runs over eight to nine months, with three 4½-day workshops in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. The final 2-day workshop and project presentations take place in Johannesburg.

Each participant completes a self-assessment and is assessed by his/her leader and a group of colleagues, using a technique known as the 360-degree assessment. These assessments are conducted at the beginning and end of the programme and a range of practical interventions designed to improve leadership behaviour and performance are taught during the programme. The Academy increases the effectiveness of delegates in working with people with different cultures and values while enhancing their awareness of the economic, political and social factors which affect business management in South Africa.