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[Johannesburg, 3 July 2006] -
NSS, an ICT service assurance management solutions company, has completed a black economic empowerment (BEE) transaction that it sees as a boost for women in the industry.The deal saw new CEO Lynda Odendaal welcome partners Lerato Mashologu and Nonkqubela Mazwai into the fold last week.“If we look at the ICT industry, there is a lack of progressiveness in IT positions of authority by women. We have a responsibility to empower women and I feel the ICT industry isn't doing enough about it. We need to find innovative and fresh thought in the industry.“We are hoping to provide these women with the right opportunity to get a foothold in the IT industry. It was a very tough process putting things together since there are good men and good consortiums out there, but I wanted to make a change and the company wanted to make a difference. There are a lot of big hitters out there, but we chose the other route,” says Odendaal.Corporate advisors Bravura Equity Services assisted with the BEE transaction, which complies with the requirements of the broad-based BEE Code of Good Practice, as issued by the Department of Trade and Industry, according to a company statement.Job creation“Mashologu is involved in the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) and is constantly looking at other ways to enhance empowerment in SEDA areas. She is also working towards job creation through SEDA,” says Odendaal.“I believe that my involvement provides the opportunity for NSS to establish business connections with stakeholders at SEDA. It is a channel to address employment equity and skills development.“By virtue of it being an educational organisation, SEDA runs an ICT programme in partnership with different companies, like SAP and Cisco, to enable students to specialise in ICT. It is an infrastructure that NSS can piggy-back off, to facilitate transformation and skills development,” says Mashologu.Going forward, NSS will look at different types of projects, including some outsourcing opportunities, says Odendaal.“We are looking at getting into third-party service-level management, outsourcing services and multi-vendor-type outsourcing contracts.”
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