Petra Rees The inaugural year of South Africa’s revised B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice ends on 30th April 2016. While many businesses have implemented changes to comply with the amended codes, those corporates that haven’t face the risk of dropping one or more levels on their scorecard. Lean Enterprise Acceleration Programmes (LEAP) has developed The Business World – an online business portal aimed at assisting corporates with complying with one of the priority elements being Enterprise and Supplier Development that deals with procurement requirements from suitable suppliers.  “This is a year of change for the South African B-BBEE scorecard,” says Petra Rees, managing director of LEAP – a subsidiary of the PLP Group. Whilst the adjustments should be lauded for their transformative benefits and their long-term economic returns, the codes are more difficult to comply with and businesses will find themselves at a disadvantage if they are not properly prepared. Corporates must b...

The impact of Budget 2015 on SMEs Petra Rees At the end of February Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene announced the tax plans for the next three years as part of the national budget, and in it he showed his support for the smallest enterprises in South Africa, by giving tax relief to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).  Micro businesses with a turnover under R335 000 will not pay tax, previously this threshold was R150 000. This news has the backing of small business owners, who will now have extra money to support their growth. “We work with a lot of start-ups in our incubation programmes and this is a fantastic way of getting entrepreneurs thinking of starting a new venture. We really welcome this move by the government,” says Petra Rees from Lean Enterprise Acceleration Programmes (LEAP), a subsidiary of PLP Group.  The biggest challenge facing SMEs will come in the form of indirect taxes, as the fuel levy and road accident fund levy are both set to increase from t...

New codes bring new B-BBEE opportunities Petra Rees When companies start their new financial year, part of their planning must involve implementing the revised B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice. The codes include priority elements with sub-minimum criteria, and if these are not met, companies will lose their achieved B-BBEE status. “We have done preliminary assessments for some of our clients and the results speak for themselves. The majority of them sit at a B-BBEE procurement level 4, and if they don’t implement the necessary changes they will drop to a level 7 or even 8. This would have a serious impact on their business,” says Petra Rees, from Lean Enterprise Acceleration Programmes (LEAP), a subsidiary of the PLP Group. “The biggest challenge for companies lies in the area of Enterprise and Supplier Development, with the procurement element forming part of that," adds Rees. If a company has a target turnover of over R50 million for the year, and they are not aligned to...