Altron Annual Report 2005

The strategic approach to Corporate Social Investment (CSI) in the Altron group during the past year has resulted in CSI becoming an integral part of the group’s mainstream activities, an important component of the BEE scorecard for the group’s internal transformation and a cornerstone of the group’s corporate accountability and governance programme.

During the period under review, the Altron CSI Policy and Implementation Guidelines, which were designed to provide the group with the necessary guidelines in terms of CSI according to the BEE scorecard parameters, were implemented throughout the Altron group. A CSI workshop for group companies was held to discuss the implementation of the policies and the guidelines on an operational level. Issues such as a central database, measuring and reporting were also discussed.

Altron’s main CSI focal areas remain education and training with the emphasis on bridging the digital divide.

● In this area the group has been extremely active and one of its biggest projects has been the Altron/BTG Multimedia Centre at the Isikhumbuzo School in Orange Farm donated by and built through the combined efforts of the companies within the Altron, Bytes Technology Group (BTG), Powertech and Altech groups.

Together with signiﬁcant support and funding from Altron, technology provided by Altech, electrical installations via companies within Powertech, donations and help from Aid Africa, Incredible Connection, Microsoft and MTN, the Isikhumbuzo High School at Orange Farm received 38 new top-of-the-range computers, all networked with enhanced multimedia capability. BTG is also responsible for the maintenance of the computers and network infrastructure.

In addition to the physical hardware, software, networking components, a projection screen and projector installed at the school, BTG has also contributed significantly by providing carpets, computer desks, security systems, one hundred chairs, as well as a UPS and upgraded electricity input to the facility.

During the past six months the project team of the Altron/BTG Multimedia Centre assisted with the co-ordination and agreement among stakeholder groups in Orange Farm, such as JAM and the CSIR, to promote community involvement and use of the centre.

● As an Altron and BTG group project, BTG is currently busy with a similar multimedia centre at Langa High School in the Langa township of Cape Town. The school has some 1300 learners. The project is being managed by BTG Cape Town and will be officially opened during the second half of 2005.

● Another example of investment in bridging the digital divide is NamITech, a company within the Altech group that has adopted the Boikanyo Primary School in Garankuwa, north of Tshwane and is assisting with a computer centre for the learners and the staff. To date, five computers have been donated and a sum of R74 000, which was raised at the NamITech Annual Golf Day, has been donated and set aside to fund the computer centre. A further R150 000 sponsorship has been set aside to equip the computer room and train the relevant staff with an additional 47 computers to be donated to the school during 2005.

● On a tertiary level, Bytes Document Solutions (BDS) is a key donor of the Centre for Text Technology (CTextT), North West University. The research centre concentrates on bridging the divide in South Africa in terms of multilingualism and diversity.

● In KwaZulu-Natal, Altech company, UEC Multi-Media, started a winter school for the introduction of computers skills to science learners at a science and career centre in Richard’s Bay to create an awareness of the benefits of Mathematics and Science at school level.

Other CSI focal areas include: job creation programmes that fall outside of our value chain; community development and support programmes (including HIV and Aids); conservation and environment programmes, and the arts, culture and sports.

We believe that CSI projects should be aligned with the vision and mission of the business. One example of such a project is the Altech F1 X 2 South African Grand Prix. During the past financial year Altech was the main sponsor of this event, spending R4 million. All profits from this sponsorship, which amounted to almost R6 million, have since been presented to former President Nelson Mandela for his Children’s Fund and to Unite Against Hunger.

Another major project that commenced this year was initiated by Aberdare Cables in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth. The name of the school is Charles Duna Primary which has about 1000 learners and 29 educators and is one of the oldest schools in the area. Aberdare Cables is building a new administration block to create space for additional classrooms and a library.

The cost of the project is more than half a million rand, but Aberdare Cables has also approached E.P. Brick and Voltex to become partners in the project. The contractor appointed in this project comprises 100% historically disadvantaged individuals and is utilising the local community to complement its core staff. The project is intended to be handed over at the end of June or early in July 2005.

Wherever possible, CSI projects are implemented in such a manner that will ensure the long-term viability of the project. During the year under review investments were made in a wide variety of projects throughout the group in identified focal areas. The emphasis in many of these projects has been on education and training.

Listed below are a few examples of the many CSI projects undertaken and supported throughout the group.

● BDS continued to assist their two “Xerox” schools with the building of a tennis court and assistance    with salaries for additional educators.
● Aberdare Cables in Cape Town continued its partnership with the Kids Foundation to assist learners    from poor families and disadvantaged communities in the Western Cape to receive educational and    training opportunities.
● Altron companies are actively involved in terms of community HIV/Aids awareness campaigns. Two    examples are Willard Batteries which is involved with the SA Community Aid Re-Education Trust in    rural Eastern Cape, and Bytes Communications Systems which is involved with the Good News    HIV/Aids Training Programme of high school learners in the south of Johannesburg.

Employee involvement in CSI

Employee participation in the upliftment and development of communities forms part of the internal “Alix Cares” programme. It is through this participation that many of the group projects and programmes are sustained and successfully completed. One example is the staff’s involvement in the multi-media centre in Orange Farm where a contingent of voluntary staff helped to clean the rooms, paint the windows, lay the carpets and make the blinds.

The staff CSI programmes offer the benefit to employees of experiencing the personal reward that comes from serving in a community. It is also a motivational opportunity to assist in the building of brand and company loyalty.

One of the examples of staff involvement in CSI is at our Aberdare Cables factory in Pietermaritzburg, where a project called “Making a Difference” was recently launched. The company’s Transformation Action Team (TAT), which comprises members from management, union and employees, co-ordinates the programme whereby money, food and various other items are collected for distribution to “child-headed households” in the Nxamalala district in the Edendale Valley. In certain instances, children as young as 10 years old run these households in the absence of parents who have passed away due to HIV/Aids and other terminal illnesses and diseases.

Working together with various community-based structures, Aberdare Cables committed themselves to helping the people of this poverty-stricken area who are in desperate need of assistance. Due to sponsorship from Aberdare Cables and donations from a large number of concerned employees and suppliers, food parcels are distributed to households representing 488 children.

Looking ahead, Altron remains firmly committed to its group-wide targets in terms of its CSI programme as outlined in Altron’s Transformation Vision 2010 document.

With regard to the designing of a measurement policy for CSI in respect of the overall transformation mandate, it was agreed that a 1% pre-tax profit guideline (including monetary and non-monetary contributions) should be used in relation to the company’s overall CSI policy, irrespective of the beneficiaries. The respective sub-holding companies will reserve the right to determine the finalfigures based on the previous year’s results and forecasts for the immediate future.

It was furthermore agreed that, in line with the Altron Transformation Vision 2010, at least 80% of the budgeted amount will be spent on BEE-related CSI projects. The Transformation Committee’s measurement will be based on the second figure. An internal BEE information platform is currently under construction and it is envisaged that this system will be in place during the latter half of 2005.