Thebe has effective group services offering that it makes available to all its investment companies. This ensures that our principles of good corporate governance, risk management and oversight are adhered to.
Finance & Accounting
Thebe’s internal accountants are responsible for the compilation of management accounts, financial statements and reporting, as well as working with both internal and external auditors. The finance function provides a key role in budget planning and execution across the group, as well as monitoring of key financial risks and metrics. With many group companies, Thebe is also able to call upon the functions of its Group Treasury housed within Finance. As we develop this service offering further this will enables Thebe Group companies to obtain better investment and loan funding rates than 3rd party banks are able to offer. All of the various back-office functions including invoices, receipts and statements, as well as VAT and tax returns are all handled seamlessly by finance. Thebe has a dedicated and experienced team within the finance unit who are eminently capable of handling the volume of work required from such a large investment and stakeholder portfolio.
Business Development & Strategy Research Unit
Thebe’s Business Development & Strategy Research (“BDU”) unit evaluates new investment opportunities and businesses for consideration and approval by the Thebe Management and Investment Committees. BDU has a wealth of staff experience in all our investment sectors and is expected to drive growth towards our 2020 Vision targets. We further employ in-house research and have significant tools at our disposal, such as our proprietary GIS database of all resources, plants and infrastructure in Sub Saharan Africa. Thebe Ventures is concerned with small, seed capital investments for developing new, strategic businesses whilst our corporate finance abilities extend to originating, structuring and executing large, value accretive transactions requiring significant due diligence.
These investments are expected to bring both cash flow liquidity and sustainable growth to our portfolios. BDU further undertakes semi-annual reviews of our investment portfolios and guides each division on acquisition and divestment strategies in order to actively move Thebe towards its 2020 Vision.
The legal and secretarial unit plays a key role in ensuring Thebe’s commitment and adherence to good corporate governance. This involves registration of new companies, secretarial advice, effective record keeping, board attendance and minutes, alongside many other crucial functions required to keep Thebe Group companies operating optimally. Having internal legal experts and qualified lawyers available within Thebe is also invaluable as we negotiate the various confidentiality agreements, term sheets, shareholder agreements and contracts that Thebe is constantly engaged with. Thebe is not litigious in nature by any means but is able to mount a robust defence (or attack) should the need arise. We furthermore have various external legal partners and advisors that we are able to call upon at short notice.
Legal & Secretarial
The legal and secretarial unit plays a key role in ensuring Thebe’s commitment and adherence to good corporate governance. This involves registration of new companies, secretarial advice, effective record keeping, board attendance and minutes, alongside many other crucial functions required to keep Thebe Group companies operating optimally. Having internal legal experts and qualified lawyers available within Thebe is also invaluable as we negotiate the various confidentiality agreements, term sheets, shareholder agreements and contracts that Thebe is constantly engaged with. Thebe is not litigious in nature by any means but is able to mount a robust defence (or attack) should the need arise. We furthermore have various external legal partners and advisors that we are able to call upon at short notice.
“Political emancipation without economic empowerment was not satisfactory and therefore we wanted to establish Thebe for economic change.”– Walter Sisulu
Transformation & Community Development
Within Thebe, transformation is the reason for the company’s existence. Hence, in the early years, the Batho Batho Trust owned 100% of the equity of the company. Today the Transformation & Community Development Division aims to deliver seamless services to support the company’s 2020 Vision including any new opportunities and acquisitions.
This division comprises of Human Resources (People), Marketing (Brand), Thebe Foundation and the Thebe Resources Incubator. These areas complement each other in service provision to our internal and external stakeholders.
▪Employer brand touches so many facets of the organization hence the need for effective management.
▪ Transformation impacts both the business (in its set up) and people (in its implementation approach).
▪ The other elements focus on our external communities for whom we exist. The fulfilment of our initiatives with these communities is carried out by the Thebe Foundation.
The functioning of these areas i.e. day to day operations, reporting and other related activities, is facilitated from the CEO’s Office.
The Transformation & Community Development Division focuses on the following core areas:
▪ Employee Development.
▪ Community Development, including Socio-Economic Development (SED).
▪ Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD).
▪ Developing of Emerging Suppliers.
▪ Thebe Branding in its entirety.
The CEO’s Office is further responsible for ensuring that Thebe maintains its best possible empowerment rating. It is Thebe’s policy that every company acquired to join the Thebe Group needs to start a transformation path that will see it achieve a minimum Level 3 status within two years of joining the Thebe Group. Thebe itself currently enjoys the best possible Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) rating, a Level 1.
Thebe Foundation
Simply put, building communities is one of the core reasons for our existence. To enhance Thebe’s community programmes, the Thebe Foundation was established as an independent trust in February 2011 in order to drive Thebe’s corporate social investment strategy. The Foundation forges partnerships between Thebe, its subsidiaries, and economically marginalised communities, in order to reshape them and ensure a more prosperous and humane future. Our corporate social investment programmes, which enable us to contribute to socio-economic transformation in our communities, focus mainly on education and enterprise development. Leveraging the collective goodwill, development commitment, business capacity, and skills of the Thebe Group of Companies and its associated partners, we are able to make transformative interventions. We make a difference and transform lives. Building communities. This is our bottom line.
