WoolWorths holdings limited 2013 good BUsiness JoUrneY report

Transformation and corporate social investment
CASE STUDY: JMH TRANSPORT
Jabulani Hlophe was one of the exceptional taxi drivers
transporting some of our store employees in KwaZulu-
Natal (KZN) home each night after dark. It was his
reliable service that made Jabulani the obvious choice
when a Woolworths procurement manager came to
rethink the transport available to store staff and identify
a service provider to pilot a more efficient system.
Woolworths worked alongside Jabulani to appropriately
gear Uyaya Trading Enterprise T/A JMH Transport to
service Woolworths effectively and develop an alternative
centralised staff transportation system, which would
decrease the distance and time travelled by each
employee when they go home late at night.
A loan of R3.3 million, financed through the Woolworths
Enterprise Development programme, with further support
from Mercedes-Benz, helped Jabulani purchase his fleet
of vehicles. This fleet regularly loops 15 collection points
(14 stores and the Distribution Centre), collecting staff
and dropping them off at a central point, where they
hop onto another taxi to take them home. Another one of
our service providers, Imperial, is supporting Jabulani,
helping with the scheduling of routes, to ensure that
the system is as efficient as possible, especially as the
number of stores serviced increases.
Since JMH Transport started operating, Jabulani has been
able to employ 28 people. With the incentive of driving
Mercedes-Benz sprinters, absenteeism of drivers has been
reduced. The business is 50% black woman owned by
Jabulani’s wife, who manages administration.
The distance and time travelled by each employee
has decreased significantly, ensuring that they get
home to their family sooner at night. Employee morale
has increased so much that participating stores have
encouraged other stores to enquire and sign up. The
new system has also helped reduce costs to Woolworths
as well as decreasing our environmental impact, by
reducing kilometres travelled. In addition, this is a
great example of the importance and added value in
strategically partnering with existing service provides
such as Mercedes-Benz and Imperial.
This is a pilot project for Woolworths, with huge
opportunity to grow in the future, not only within KZN
itself, but across the country, to eventually service all
our store employees.
Broad-based Beneficiation
The following are some of the indicators that demonstrate the
impact of our transformation efforts:
• We currently have a total of 6 284 participants in the BEE
Employee Share Option Scheme with approximately, 7 762
beneficiaries at the end of the scheme in 2015. The impact
of economic empowerment for this scheme will therefore
be felt in at least 7 762 South African families.
• In the last three years Woolworths increased employment of
People with Disabilities from 181 to 422 by the end of 2012/13
financial year. We strive to make a deliberate and empowering
recruitment drive that is sustainable and making a meaningful
contribution in empowering People with Disabilities.
• The number of jobs created by our Enterprise Development
and Supplier Development initiatives in the past three years
is approximately 808. In the way we approach Supplier
Development, we are confident that these are permanent jobs
created with a huge potential to grow into bigger numbers
as the businesses we have supported grow to be sustainable
businesses.
• The Woolworths Trust, has in the past ten years of its existence
invested in excess of R34 million in development of South African
communities and donated food and clothing to thousands
of charities.
Commercial relevance
We establish a compelling business case for most of our
transformation efforts as a motivator for us and our internal
change agents to do more, for example:
• Our supplier development initiatives have to meet our
expected return on sales whilst the small/medium business
involved makes profit.
• We share some of our stories of empowerment with our
customers, especially when there’s a product linked to the
specific Supplier Development initiative. Our customers have
appreciated this through great customer feedback and are
asking for more of the ‘product with a difference’.
For more examples of suppliers who have become
part of our Enteprise Development programme,
see www.woolworths.co.za/goodbusinessjourney
2013 GOOD BUSINESS JOURNEY / WHL 35