Henley achieved this – from an initial level 4 – in the space of a year.
Henley Business School Africa has become the first leading business school in South Africa to achieve Level 1 B-BBEE status.
Announcing the achievement, Henley Africa dean and director Jon Foster-Pedley said it was even more remarkable since the business school had achieved this in the space of a year in the middle of a national state of emergency.
“Last year, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, we were at level 4, yet, as part of our Corporate Activism initiative, we have managed to fundamentally transform ourselves into an authentic corporate South African citizen, delivering the highest level of B-BBEE engagement.”
Jon said the achievement has been made possible by a school-wide team effort with adoption and energetic implementation of a preferential procurement policy creating opportunities for black suppliers – and particularly businesses owned by black women. The other component which had weighed heavily in Henley Africa’s favour was its insistence on staff and socio-economic development.
“We don’t just have the biggest MBA scholarship programme in South Africa, it’s also mandatory that our staff study, which many are doing through Henley’s unique ladder of learning, allowing them to progress from higher certificate all the way to the flagship executive MBA programme.”
Henley Africa is also continuing to support the government’s Youth Employment Service (YES) by providing learnerships to 11 interns.
“We are immensely gratified to receive this recognition from the Department of Labour,” said Jon, “it’s a massive step in the journey we have undertaken over the last decade to recreate ourselves as a truly African business school with a global reach, providing world class education as measured against any metric.
It was also important, he said, because it symbolised the coming-of-age of African business education.
The level 1 B-BBEE achievement is a testimony, he said, to the people who make up Henley Africa, the staff and the faculty, who have worked tirelessly over the last 10 years to achieve these double summits, without forgetting the efforts of their colleagues in the broader, global Henley community, especially those in the UK.
