Abstract

In July 2019, South Africa-based energy company TotalEnergies South Africa (Total South Africa), announced that it had secured the Level 1 rating in Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment . This was a culmination of more than 15 years of a dedicated transformation strategy to make its business more inclusive. The strategy included changes in its ownership structure to include more blacks; skill development programs for employees from marginalized communities; procurement from companies which were owned by blacks; and building sustainable access to the economy for black people in South Africa. Total, which entered South Africa in 1954, continuously strove for the development of the local people. It was the first company to start service stations in predominantly black neighborhoods. As soon as Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) was introduced, Total South Africa started making changes in the company right from the ownership structure and in the management, procurement, and other activities in order to achieve the goals prescribed by B-BBEE.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the socio-economic divide in workplaces
• Evaluate the role of a corporate business house in reducing the socio-economic gap among its human resources
• Identify the policy level initiatives to enable participation of marginalized populations in the development of the economy

Keywords

TotalEnergies; inclusive business; diversity; economic empowerment; sustainable access; DEI; apartheid; Black Economic Empowerment; policy changes; discrimination; socio-economic divide in workplaces; socio-economic gap; marginalized populations; workplace discrimination