Seeing initiatives such as B-BBEE in terms of the triple bottom-line is most definitely the key to understanding their importance to the business community. B-BBEE may be a politicised issue, but it is most definitely also an issue of competitiveness and therefore impacts directly on profitability.

Unfortunately one still finds that many people do not fully grasp the financial importance of everything included under the triple bottom line, simply regarding it as extraneous to business activities. This uninformed position is akin to that taken by Milton Friedman when he defines all chartable actions undertaken at cost to the company, as an unjustifiable expense with no returns.

Thankfully the decades since then have seen the introduction of triple bottom-line reporting and the development of Corporate Social Investment. Unfortunately many South Africans simply equate CSI to charity, negating the Investment portion. B-BBEE will hopefully impact positively on this situation through its focus on community and SMME development.