Johannesburg – The National Empowerment Fund (NEF) has signed a R3m agreement with the Black Business Council (BBC).
The objective of the fund is to grow black economic empowerment in South Africa, the two bodies said in a statement on Monday.
NEF CEO Philisiwe Buthelezi said the fund and BBC were “fraternal partners”.
They sought growth and transformation to ensure that black people were “meaningfully at the strategic and operational centre of the economy”.
The R3m would be made available to the BBC in the form of a grant.
“This will support consolidation of the BBC’s technical capacity, as well as its national campaigns and advocacy work,” Buthelezi said.
She said research showed that blacks, who made up 90% of the population, owned about 3% of the economy in terms of market capitalisation on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
She said black economic empowerment remained a critical obligation which required a range of partnerships to restore the “economic citizenship” of blacks.
