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Roddy Sparks |
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Globalisation,
governance and corporate citizenship have emerged as mainstream policy
issues for corporates in these first turbulent years of the 21st century
— driving a worldwide trend towards greater stakeholder accountability
through triple-bottom line measurement and reporting.
In South Africa, corporate practices are also informed by the challenges
of economic transformation. At Old Mutual we believe that business
has a role to play in addressing these challenges, both in its own
and society’s interests.
It is in this context that Old Mutual South Africa has committed itself
to a process of corporate citizenship transformation, and we report
on our progress in this, our second, Corporate Citizenship Report.
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Our first report, also a first for the financial services industry
in South Africa, was published in 2002. It met with an enthusiastic
response and became a benchmark in stakeholder accountability.
We believe that this report improves on the first, including, for
example, summary sections on BEE and HIV/AIDS.
These will serve as a useful basis for future reporting, in anticipation
of likely future requirements for BEE reporting, and in terms of proposals
currently being developed by the JSE Securities Exchange in respect
of HIV/AIDS reporting.
Our corporate citizenship activities focus on enriching the lives
of our employees, providing value to our customers, making a significant
and positive impact on society, and on ensuring that we deliver excellent
returns to our shareholders. Aligning our activities to South Africa’s
transformation challenge is vital in ensuring delivery to our stakeholders.
As such, a transformation focus informs all of our corporate citizenship
practices.
We are happy with our progress in many areas, but also recognise that
we still have a way to go towards achieving the corporate citizenship
and transformation goals we have set for ourselves.
During the year under review, highlights included progress on the
customer service front, the launch of several new product offerings,
and the strides made with our HIV/AIDS programme, particularly the
workplace component of this programme. Helping to address the social
and economic challenges caused by this pandemic will remain a priority
in the year ahead.
We will also continue with our drive to improve Old Mutual’s
standing as an employer of choice. This year, over 6 400 of our 13
000 employees were trained through the OMBUS, the primary entity through
which learning occurs in Old Mutual. In total, at 6.7% of payroll,
we continued to spend far in excess of comparable local and international
benchmarks for employee training and development. We are also pleased
to report that we continue to make progress with employment equity,
with roughly 40% of Old Mutual South Africa’s operating profits
now under the direct control of black executives.
On the wider BEE front, we continued to build on a solid track record
of performance, and see further delivery as a priority in 2003.
We believe that BEE, properly executed, can be a key driver of sustainable
economic growth and social transformation in South Africa, and in
our business. We are currently finalising a BEE strategy which is
informed by a 10-point delivery framework developed in 2001, and progress
against the strategy will be detailed in our next report.
In the social section of this report, we highlight the company’s
contribution to the concept of community volunteerism, through our
support for a comprehensive staff volunteerism programme, and through
our support for the Rural Economic Development Initiative (REDI),
which during 2002 mobilised over 12 000 volunteers in support of projects
in rural areas throughout South Africa.
Our approach to dealing with corporate citizenship issues is informed
by a process of ongoing stakeholder engagement. Dialogue is important
if we are to gain maximum benefit from our contribution towards sustainable
nation building in South Africa. As part of this process, we encourage
you to engage us on the issues covered in this report, and in so doing
help us in our quest to be a leading corporate citizen, and a champion
of transformation and development in South Africa.
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