Valcal International - A retaining wall specialist operating in Gauteng.

Valcal, already a certified Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment contractor, have recently been upgraded to a Level Two Contributor. This new B-BBEE Level 2 rating was recently certified by M-Power Ratings- an independent Black Economic Empowerment verification company.

This certification covers all elements of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment and includes ownership, management control, employment equity, skills development, procurement, enterprise development as well as socio economic development.

Being a family-owned business there are limited areas within the B-BBEE certification where we can make a real contribution.  By focusing on our employment equity and our procurement policies we were able to achieve our previous Level 4 certification.  However, going forward we did not believe that these limitations should inhibit us from making a significant contribution towards B-BBEE in general and towards achieving a higher certification level.  We remained committed to actively procuring from BEE compliant companies and achieved a recognition level of 125% in this area on our latest report. This represents 56% of our total measured spend for the period.

We further focused on other areas of B-BBEE where we felt our contributions could make a tangible impact and one of these areas was Enterprise development.  We actively sought out a start-up enterprise that required a capital injection and selected Hosi Technology Solutions as the appropriate entity to receive this monetary grant.  Hosi Technologies, with 52% black ownership, operates in the technological services sector, which is a growing industry attracting a number of young job seekers and newly qualified individuals. 

The other area that was meaningful to us was Socio-economic development.  Donations were made to Tebogo Seolwana – currently studying at the University of Johannesburg in order for him to commence his 2012 studies.  Further donations were also made to The Little Eden Society for the Care of Persons with Intellectual Disability, a non-profit organisation which relies on private funding. 

Our new B-BBEE Level 2 Certification will improve our relevance within the construction industry and continue to remain a key focus in our business.