There is a popular narrative going around that 'BEE ownership has only benefitted 100 black elite'. This didn't match with our experience in the market so we did some research.

Based on the analysis of our proprietary database covering 54 000 companies whose BEE certificates and black ownership levels we know (representing 45% of active VAT-registered businesses in their size brackets), we find at least 27,800 companies with black shareholding in South Africa and this translates to at least 873 000 Black people owning equity stakes in South African businesses as a direct result of BEE policies.

Key Findings:

• BEE policy clearly works. Shareholding patterns almost perfectly follow BEE ownership and procurement targets, showing strong widespread business response. See the graph in the attached report.
• At least 27 800 businesses have Black shareholders across all business sizes.
• 873 000+ Black South Africans directly own shares in these businesses, refuting the claim that only a handful of politically connected individuals have benefited.

Paper by Gareth Ochse & Des Mahony, Tusker