2022 Sasol Sustainability Report - Book - Page 39
INTRODUCTION
SUSTAINABILITY PERFORMANCE AGAINST OUR FOCUS AREAS
DATA AND ASSURANCE
GROWING SHARED VALUE (CONTINUED)
Economic inclusion
We aim to achieve a diverse, transformed, sustainable and high-performing
supplier base by accelerating the development of small and transformed businesses.
We will do this through simplified processes, impactful development support and
funding for the betterment of communities beyond the boundaries of Sasol.
WHAT WE ARE DOING
South Africa
OUR APPROACH
We strive to deliver maximum shared value for our organisation and our stakeholders that is built
on robust, mutually beneficial relationships. This is enhanced by ensuring that we understand,
translate and proactively deliver on commitments, on time and at the required quality and price.
As part and parcel we continue to drive localisation and economic transformation, centered
around our fenceline communities, in particular with exempted micro enterprises and qualifying
small enterprises.
With the launch of the Sasol transformation agenda
in 2018, we sought to reshape our Enterprise and
Supplier Development (ESD) approach. The revised
approach was designed to address the socioeconomic challenges faced by small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) as well as firms owned by
Historically Disadvantaged Persons (HDPs) in the
communities in which we operate. It also sought
to reinforce our commitment to localisation and
the economic inclusion of SMEs into our business.
To accomplish this, our redefined approach to
economic transformation has been put in place
to ensure not only legislative compliance, but
true economic empowerment through our ESD
programmes.
We acknowledge that SMEs have been finding it
difficult to access procurement opportunities and
participate meaningfully in our supply chain. We
introduced and continue to make enhancements to
our digital SME access platform, Linkage, to mitigate
this challenge and ensure that SMEs have enhanced
visibility of available procurement and development
opportunities. The platform also makes it simpler
and faster for SMEs to be onboarded and integrated
into our value chain and supports our goal to foster
a transparent and inclusive relationship with the
SMEs we work with. We have hosted Supplier Days
across our fenceline regions to create greater
visibility of our supply chain processes.
Supplier spend reached
51%
black-owned
businesses
SASOL SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2022
38
30%
black womenowned businesses
2022 was a difficult year for businesses of all
sizes, with SMEs bearing the brunt of the burden.
Rising costs, lockdown restrictions and looting
created near impossible conditions for small
businesses to thrive.
We continued to expand our support to reach
more SMEs through our ‘Built to Last’ webinar
series; a digital business survival toolkit delivered
in four webinar chapters that represent the journey
SMEs must take to overcome business disruptions.
To proactively support and develop South African
women-owned SMEs in engineering and technology,
we launched the Sasol Women in Engineering
Business Incubation Programme. It allows us to
effectively contribute to the development of a
pool of credible, future-fit, female-owned and led
businesses in STEM not only in support of Future
Sasol ambitions, but also to ensure equitable access
for women in future STEM opportunities.
We gave specific focus to increasing spend on
Exempted Micro Enterprises (EMEs), while driving
preferential procurement. We exceeded the
Department of Trade, Industry and Competition's
(DTIC) B-BBEE compliance targets for preferential
procurement spend with empowering suppliers,
spending with 51% black-owned businesses as well
as with 30% black women-owned businesses.
120 learners Launched
the Women in Engineering
Business Incubation Programme
to foster equitable access for women
in future STEM opportunities.