BERGSTAN SOUTH AFRICA
TAKES THE ENGINEERING WORLD BY STORM
A WIN-WIN SITUATION FOR ALL WITH 57% BLACK OWNERSHIP
page one
Bergstan South Africa
Consulting and Development Engineers (Pty) Ltd, a leading firm of consulting
engineers established in 1954 as Liebenberg and Stander Western Cape (Pty)Ltd,
recently transformed to Bergstan South Africa.
This was the result of a thorough and robust transformation process to
create a win-win situation for a highly skilled group of management
consultants.
Bulelwa Belu-Toni, an Executive
Director of Bergstan, responsible for transformation, marketing and social
development, said “The new identity reflects the new ownership, while retaining
the reputation earned over more than 50 years.
At the same time, we have repositioned and streamlined the company in
order to forge strategic partnerships with valued clients and to provide them
with the best service at all times.
“We have already attracted new talent in young men and women of all races and we are transferring skills to sustain the high standards that the clients demandi
“We also spread advantages to the
communities that we work with and strive to cement long lasting relationships
by offering bursaries and exposure to engineering as a career option.”
Today, the company builds upon one of Southern Africa’s well-established engineering and development practices operating as an autonomous company nationally with a presence in Johannesburg, Botswana and internationally. The firm is driven by 61 committed staff members delivering services in civil and structural engineering, project management, transportation engineering, public participation, social development and economic and tourism studies.
She added, “Bergstan South Africa endeavours to maintain a reputation for quality of service, coupled with a high level of expertise and is always mindful of the responsibility to transfer skills for the benefit of historically disadvantaged individuals (HDIs), through sharing experience in the engineering and related fields. Currently approximately more than 40 per cent of staff are from previously disadvantaged groups.
“Although the company has a long tradition of non-discrimination
and has continually employed and advanced staff on the basis of merit alone, it
has an affirmative action policy which influences human resource development
decisions and has advanced many technicians and engineers from historically
disadvantaged groups over a period of time.”
Today we have advanced to the point where the following is reflected
57% black shareholding
13% female shareholding
60% full representation by blacks
on the executive committee.
According to Ms Belu-Toni, more women have recently
been given an opportunity to manage key positions within the company. Amina Soeker, a Trainee Assistant Accountant, has
been fully empowered to the point where she can now take
BERGSTAN SOUTH AFRICA
TAKES THE ENGINEERING WORLD BY STORM
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two
responsibility for the financial
direction of the company. Alice Alfred
is responsible for all human resource related matters and the management of the
staff development programme (SDP). This
SDP ensures that skills and knowledge in all fields are transferred from
experienced engineers to newly appointed young technicians and new entrant
engineers who specialise in civil and structural engineering.
She added, “I am proud to say that
it is the intention of Bergstan South Africa to ensure that young technical
staff are provided with sufficient support and top quality training to enable
them to develop into experienced and innovative engineering consultants.
“Bergstan South Africa aims to
become the consulting engineering firm of choice in South Africa providing
quality services to its clients while embracing both human development and
gender equality in a dynamic society.”
In keeping with the King
Commission on Good Corporate Governance, Mr Lester Peteni, one of the company’s
black shareholders, has been appointed as the Non-Executive Chairman.
Mr Lester Peteni commented, “Not
only did we attract new investors to the company, we could offer PDI staff the
opportunity of co-owning a company for which they had worked for many
years. We have promoted female ownership
in a field traditionally dominated by males and have brought together
long-standing relationships from different disciplines.
“As we aimed for a win-win
situation for all parties involved in the process, we retained existing
shareholders with a minority shareholding and I am pleased to say that these
shareholders have agreed to a name change to reflect this momentous milestone
in the history of the company.”
The quality of service to our
clients is built upon an ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management procedure for
which we were successfully certified in 2002 by the SABS. This certification was renewed in September
2005.
ENDS
Issued by Rosemary Hare Public Relations cc
P O Box 12521
MILL STREET
8010
On behalf of Bergstan South Africa Consulting and
Development Engineers (Pty)
Ltd
4 Roggebaai Square
Coen Steytler Avenue
Foreshore
CAPE TOWN
8001
For further information, please
contact Debbie Bergsman at Rosemary Hare Public Relations cc on (021) 531-2166
or 082 490 6048.