Lion of Africa Awarded Level 1 BBBEE Status

October 4 - Lion of Africa, which is celebrating a decade as part of South Africa's insurance industry, has achieved a major milestone.

The group become the country's first insurance company to achieve a Level 1 Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment rating.

Seven different elements of the codes were examined in order to achieve this status, namely:

• ownership
• management control
• employment equity
• skills development
• preferential procurement
• enterprise development
• corporate social investment

The BBBEE certificate was formally awarded to Lion of Africa late last month.

Speaking about the achievement, the Chief Executive Officer of Lion of Africa, Adam Samie, said that he was proud that the group was contributing to the development of previously disadvantaged members of the population in South Africa.

The transformation of the insurance group was not only about compliance, he said.

"Lion of Africa achieved Level 1 status due to a holistic approach to transformation and the empowerment of our society," he said. "This ideal, coupled with fundamental improvements in the company's preferential procurement, and enterprise development activities, has ensured that we remain the leaders in transformation in our market sector."

"We have also made substantial improvements in our employment equity and skills development programs, which lie at the heart of the company's ongoing initiatives," he concluded.