In South Africa, the most industrialized country on the continent, Black ownership of businesses fell by 1.5 percentage points to under 30 percent last year. Black management control also decreased 5.4 percentage points to 51.6 percent.
Bloomberg reports these figures come from the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act Commission. The commission is mandated by a law passed almost two decades ago. to remedy economic imbalances brought on by apartheid in South Africa, where four out of five people are Black.
The country has battled to economically uplift a bigger segment of its population. Despite the more than 500 B-BBEE ownership acquisitions worth more than $36.1 billion that were reported to the commission since 2017 and meant to facilitate the transfer of ownership to Black people, the negative trend has maintained.
This past June, President Cyril Ramaphosa nominated 14 individuals to a Black economic-empowerment council to address the lack of improvement in some metrics of Black involvement in the economy. The president called attention to the need for Black management control, diverse procurement, and talent development.
The report also found:
- Of companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Board control by Black people was at 39% (21% male, 18% female), compared to 28% in 2020.
- 0% of entities listed are 100% black-owned, which is unchanged since 2020. This is down from 3% in 2019 and 1% in 2018.
- The transportation and tourism sectors have the highest average Black ownership at 78% and 52%, while the agriculture and financial sectors recorded the lowest Black ownership at 17%.