News from the CGF desk

DQS opens governance doors to its supply chain (12 April '12)

Johannesburg: CGF News

CGF Research Institute (Pty) Ltd -- a specialist company involved in a wide range of corporate governance services -- announced last month that one of its latest Corporate Patrons is DQS South Africa (Pty) Ltd.  Terry Booysen, the CEO of CGF is delighted to see that more companies such as DQS are beginning to take an active lead to support good governance and its practices across all levels within their supply chain.

Supporting this notion, the Managing Director of DQS South Africa, Francois Labuschagne says, “it’s one thing to talk about governance, it’s altogether another matter practicing good governance throughout one’s business and extended supply chain.”  Both business leaders agree that the best way to ensure sustainable business growth is by ensuring a company entrenches robust business practices which are ethical, and supported by all the company’s stakeholders.

Getting the balance right between business growth, profits and good governance is not a task for the faint-hearted, and this is often a contentious debate in many boardrooms, both in South Africa and abroad.  Of course if the subject of governance is seen as an ‘intangible asset’ or a ‘tick-box’ event; then matters can become very serious such where a company and its leaders could become subjected to a combination of financial penalties, criminal or civil lawsuits, reputational and brand damage, or even company closure.  Increasingly companies are expected to understand and apply their minds to the manner in which poor governance affects their business, and this is not only a task for the AAA corporates, or those listed on a stock exchange.  This is a matter which concerns all businesses, no matter their size.

Says Booysen, “many companies still today see any form of governance as a hindrance to their performance and bottom line, which in reality can be the case if the company is not applying its mind to the manner in which the company is to be governed.”  What needs to be clearly understood about applying good governance is the fact that it needs to be resident as an underlying principle of the company, demonstrated by the company’s ethical behaviour, corporately and at individual levels.

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DQS South Africa raises Governance stakes with Bronze Patron status (23 Mar '12)

Johannesburg: CGF News

CGF Research Institute (Pty) Ltd, a specialist company involved in a wide range of corporate governance services, has announced the support of its latest Corporate Patron, DQS South Africa (Pty) Ltd.

Since 2004, CGF has been steadily building its corporate governance message across South Africa; strongly advocating that if South Africa wants to become the ‘destination of choice’ by foreign investors, it will need to assure investors of a stable political environment, a growing economy and one which is considered soundly governed and sustainable.  Of course these factors are only a few of the critical indicators that assist foreign investors in making their decision to invest in South Africa (or not); their decisions are also supported by their perception, attitude and appetite toward the country’s risks.  Their decision may be based upon -- for example -- the Global Competiveness Report, the Bribery and Corruption Reports, the Transparency International Report and the Global Peace Index Report.  Clearly then, if only one or a handful of organisations are striving to improve their governance and competitiveness ratings in South Africa, and the companies in their supply chain fail to do so, then the business cycle and its governance measures essentially begins to suffer, or even die, as foreign and local investors begin to fade from the picture.  Following this, business rating analysts link a number of factors that drag a country down in terms of engaging business; two of these factors just happen to be poor governance and overly burdensome regulations.

Moreover, as legislation and regulation is often seen as ‘an inhibitor of doing business’, organisations need to question not only why the barrage of restrictive laws continue, but more importantly how they could be better managed so that their operations are not adversely impacted?  “One way of better managing this situation is by actively engaging sound governance principles within the organisation’s direct operations, as well as its external supply chains,” says Terry Booysen, the  CEO of CGF Research.  Far too often an organisation may simply address its own basic governance requirements -- be these legislative, regulatory and even ISO (International Standards Organisation) and SHEQ (Safety, Health, Environmental & Quality) standards -- and rarely do they consider the manner in which more complex governance matters will affect not only their own operations, but also those of their suppliers and customers.  Of course training and a more proactive awareness of these matters should be made known to the organisation’s internal and external stakeholders, and through its adoption, could have a profoundly positive impact throughout the organisation’s supply chain, and indeed the economy.

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Did Durban weather scare SA companies away from WCS 2011? (06 Dec '11)

Johannesburg: CGF News

Having just returned from the World Climate Summit 2011 held in Durban between 03-04 December 2011 -- where CGF Research Institute (Pty) Ltd was selected as one of the Summit’s industry partners -- it was clearly evident that many of South Africa’s top businesses and their leaders were not in attendance.  One wonders if this was due to the erratic weather during the Summit and COP17, which would be rather ironic.

At the Summit, The Carbon War Room announced the 2011 Best-In-Class Gigaton Award Winners, again noticeably devoid of South African companies.  The categories of the Gigaton Award Winners were recognised and applauded for their outstanding business leadership in carbon emissions reduction, high standards of disclosure and the inspiration they have set in the hope that others will follow their example.

There were five Gigaton Award categories, namely; Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples, Industrials, Telecommunications and Utilities.  Out of the 25 companies from across the world who were nominated for the Gigaton Awards, the following companies won the respective categories: Tesco plc (United Kingdom) won the Consumer Discretionary award, Philips (Netherlands) the Consumer Staples award, Schneider Electric (France) the Industrials award, Swisscom (Switzerland) the Telecommunications award and Centrica (United Kingdom) the Utilities award.  The Gigaton Prize was awarded to Suntech, a Chinese solar energy giant and also represented in South Africa, whilst a special Gigaton prize was given to Germany, having been cited as a country that has been the most inspiring example for renewable energy and energy efficiency investments and deployments.

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Rifle-Shot Performance Holdings opens governance doors for its supply chain (02 Dec '11)

Johannesburg: Press Release Rifle-Shot Performance Holdings (Pty) Ltd has recently achieved Corporate Patron status with CGF Research Institute (Pty) Ltd, a specialist company involved in a wide range of corporate governance services. Rifle-Shot Performance Holdings is a provider of targeted consulting and implementation skills in the fields of Operational Intelligence, including Process, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), Process Safety, Supply Chain, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Business Intelligence (BI).

Rifle-Shot Performance Holdings believes there are strong synergies between their operational focus and the governance speciality of CGF Research Institute as a means of enhancing South Africa’s competitive ability. “Undoubtedly, there is still a lot of work to be done in South Africa as we continue to limp ahead with low single digit GDP growth, estimated at approximately 3% p.a. compared to our key trading partners Nigeria (7.6% p.a.), Zimbabwe (9.0% p.a.) and China who have GDP growth rates of 9.6%,” says Terry Booysen, the CEO of CGF Research Institute.

“A competitive South Africa needs all its team players working together to build a nation with pride, one that is sustainable and established on a sound governance foundation,” continues Booysen.

As Booysen says, “For many years CGF has been advocating the need for businesses and government to openly support and adopt a culture for sound governance within its business
operations and structures. Typically there are two patterns of response to this call and challenge - one being a convenient denial that there could be any form of errant behaviour and therefore the status quo continues within an organisation, the other, a blissful ignorance of the topic with a business as usual approach.”

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CGF appoints lead contractors to provide competitive edge (18 Nov '11)

Johannesburg: CGF Press Release

As many businesses in South Africa -- large and small -- begin to unpack the necessary work they need to complete as a result of the new Companies Act 2008 which was introduced earlier this year, including the provisions of King III; they may find themselves in a position where an extra “set of hands” is required.  Of course, it’s not just an additional resource that companies will need when they consider the requirements of the Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI) or the affected policies and other key documents they must now produce; they will need a resource that has the requisite skills in these areas to assist them.

Expectedly companies will be placed under even more cost-cutting pressure going forward into 2012, considering their already tight margins as a result of the world economic slump.  Fuelling this situation will be the implications of last week’s downgrade on the outlook for South Africa's government debt, announced by the ratings agency Moody’s.  Considering these factors, there is hardly an optimistic short-to-medium term outlook for most companies in South Africa, and realistically there is even less chance that companies will be hiring any great numbers of employees in the next few months, even years. The fact that Moody’s has raised its concerns about the government’s ability to rein in spending and keep debt levels under control, suggests that the country’s down grading will create an adverse ripple effect throughout South Africa’s supply chain.  Undoubtedly smaller companies will be affected far quicker than their larger counterparts, and harder too.  Whilst small to medium companies bemoan these demanding times, the reality is that -- notwithstanding the economic pressures -- they are also required to perform their administrative and legal duties as required by the various laws and regulations to which they are expected to comply with.

“To assist our clients in staying abreast of the numerous requirements of the new Companies Act 2008, including King III, CGF Research Institute also provides companies the necessary assistance relating to company secretarial and strategic consulting services”, says Terry Booysen, the CEO of CGF.  The company commenced its operations in 2004 as a research institution, providing its clients such as the South African Breweries, ABSA, Goldfields and various government entities, monthly reports which are related to corporate governance matters.  However since the beginning of 2011, CGF has broadened its offerings to include additional services that assist companies to prepare and write their MOIs, or even guide them when designing their key policies such as ethics, conflict of interest, delegation of authority and similar documentation.  Considering the huge liabilities placed upon directors and prescribed officers, these matters are vital to any company, and failing to implement them -- or updating them -- could result in punitive actions against the company and its officers, not least reputational damage.   Accordingly, CGF has increased its ranks of professionals by appointing Lead Contractors to assist its clients in these complex areas.  CGF’s latest appointment is Andre Barwick, who spent the last nineteen years in the petroleum and oil industry sector as a Legal Adviser and Company Secretary.  Expectedly, CGF’s contractors are independent professionals and specialists in their respective fields of governance, risk and compliance.

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Rifle Shot Performance Holdings Bronze Patron status opens governance doors for its supply chain (27 Oct ’11)

Johannesburg: CGF Press Release

CGF Research Institute (Pty) Ltd, a specialist company involved in a wide range of corporate governance services, has announced the support of its latest Corporate Patron, Rifle Shot Performance Holdings (Pty) Ltd.

“For many years, CGF has been advocating the need for businesses and government to openly support and adopt a culture for sound governance within its business operations and structures. Typically, and with a few exceptions, there are two patterns of response to this call and challenge; one being a convenient denial that there could be any form of errant behaviour and therefore the status quo continues within an organisation, the other a blissful ignorance of the topic with a business as usual approach,” says Terry Booysen, the CEO of CGF Research.

Undoubtedly, there is still a lot of work to be done in South Africa as our country continues to limp ahead with single digit GDP growth, estimated at approximately 3% per annum. As compared to our key trading partners such as India and China with GDP averages at 8.9% and 9.6% respectively; South Africa needs all its team players pulling in the same direction if we are to build a nation with pride, and one that is sustainable and established on a sound governance foundation. Increasingly, the call for action has been made for an improved education system, job creation and crime reduction; yet few by comparison are actually willing to put their shoulders to the wheel. True partnerships make a significant impact when each party is willing to be held accountable to the other for its actions, rather than abdicating the responsibilities of the tasks at hand.

Rifle Shot Performance Holdings has most certainly shown their fortitude through their support and partnership with CGF; considering that neither of these companies are the heavy weights of the JSE. “Rather ironically and notwithstanding the size of our companies, CGF and Rifle Shot Performance Holdings is making a significant difference when it comes to assisting the major South African companies understand, and deal with the wide nuances associated with sound business governance practices”, adds Ian Huntly, the co-founder and CEO of Rifle Shot Performance Holdings.

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Tina Eboka: Adding some governance panache to CGF (26 Aug ’11)

Johannesburg: CGF Press release

CGF Research Institute (Pty) Ltd has established itself amongst many corporates and vertical business sectors as a leader in the areas of corporate governance research and reporting, providing its client base a practical understanding of numerous challenging business and regulatory matters.  Understandably, as the complexity of business continues in an ever increasing web of legislative and regulatory changes -- amongst many other geopolitical related factors -- so the need to consult in wider business circles becomes more critical if one is to act with good risk management and prudent decision making.  Indeed these actions adopted by CGF have allowed our company to gradually expand our credentials and to reach a wider market.  As more external thought processes and inputs continue to be applied by the Honorary Patrons within CGF, so the applicability and demand for further services continues to grow within CGF, thereby allowing our company to increase the value we provide our esteemed client base.

It therefore goes without saying that the selection of our Honourary Patrons -- each who serve a two year period -- is a critical component for CGF, as well as our client base.  Not only is the process of searching for Honourary Patrons an important feature of CGF’s strategy, it is also challenging to ensure that there is an excellent fit between the selected person’s experience and knowledge, which must compliment CGF’s own requirements and of course those of our clients.  Needless to say, when Tina Eboka’s profile was presented to fulfill our woman’s position as Honourary Patron, our executive management team was simply bowled over.  Ms Eboka’s credentials are literally world class, with an academic background that covers an MBA in Business Operations and Project Management which she obtained from Philadelphia University, in the USA.  She also obtained a BSc in Textile Engineering from the same university.  Prior to this, Tina also received a BSc in Applied Maths and Industrial Engineering from the State University of New York, as well as attending the Senior Executive Programme at the Harvard Business School.  From 1984 to 1986 she held the positions of mathematics adjunct professor at Philadelphia University.

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Bernard Peter Agulhas: Accountable to good governance (12 Jul ’11)

Johannesburg: CGF Press release

In the contemporary environment there is the undeniable need for organisations to be adequately informed and equipped in order for them to meet the increasing demands to adopt and implement sound governance practices.

This includes benchmarking against both local and international best practices.  The significance of having good governance practiced by the fiduciaries found within the nations’ leadership of both governmental and corporate spheres cannot be downplayed.   These individuals fly high the flag for good governance and set an example to encourage those around them.

CGF strives to support and advise its constituents to function soundly and sustainably, in line with good governance practices.  Central to this is looking at Corporate Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) as related to the strategy, people, processes and technologies of an organisation.

This is no small mission and assisting CGF in its role as educator are key individuals who have been carefully selected to stand as Honourary Patrons.  CGF regards its Honourary Patrons as iconic people; each one being highly regarded for the important contribution they make to society as well as for their ideals and their ethical leadership. The Honourary Patrons exemplify accountable citizenship and serve as models of good governance.

In partnering with CGF, these individuals play an essential part in assisting CGF’s campaign to see more people and organisations evolving to embrace and effectively implement sound governance practice.  They support CGF in its drive to ensure that good governance is laid down as a strong foundation within both the public and private sector.  CGF is proud to announce that Bernard Agulhas has joined the ranks of its Honourary Patrons, namely Dr. Mathews Phosa, Professor Shirley Zinn, Ms Devi Sankaree Govender and Mr Michael Judin.

Bernard’s extensive knowledge and experience, particularly related to the field of auditing, allows him to provide -- among other contributions -- an invaluable oversight function to CGF.

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Rewarding good school governance (20 Jan '11)

Johannesburg: Courtesy - Mail & Guardian Online Press Release - By Thabo Mohlala

An annual national award that recognises schools which promote principles of good governance and discipline has been launched in Johannesburg and is believed to be a first in South Africa.
The award is an initiative of the Proudly South African Campaign and the CGF Research Institute, an organisation concerned about raising the awareness and need for sound governance practices within business and government.  Known as the CGF -- Proudly South African School Governance Award, the initiative is the brainchild of CGF's Chief Executive Officer, Terry Booysen, who has been a governance specialist for eight years and a partner of Proudly South African.  Several of South Africa's municipalities as well as provincial education departments, (notably the Eastern Cape) are facing serious financial and management problems, partly because of the lack of management expertise and good governance.  Booysen said he "strongly believes that good governance is inextricably linked to discipline and that schools are the ideal places where this could be cultivated and promoted". He explained that schools that exercise a high level of discipline among its staff and learners perform well, academically and socially.

Booysen said that principals, as leaders of schools, should be held accountable because it is part of their function to promote and instill discipline among their staff, teachers and learners and this is what good corporate governance is all about.
"The recent incidences of intimidation, violence and crime in our schools across the country, point to a total breakdown of discipline. It means principals as the chief executive officers of schools are failing to instill discipline in their schools and its subjects. Surely, similar to other CEO's in the private sector, school principals also have fiduciary responsibilities and they should also stand the same scrutiny as their business and government counterparts," said Booysen.

The Call for entry for the Awards will be announced by the Proudly South African Campaign in due course.  For more information contact Dalene du Preez at: dalene@proudlysa.co.za / 011 - 327 7778

Source: Mail & Guardian Online Web Address:http://www.mg.co.za/article/2011-01-20-rewarding-good-school-governance

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CGF extends its governance services with new appointment (21 Jan '11)

Johannesburg: CGF Press Release

CGF Research Institute (Pty) Ltd is delighted to welcome Lucien Caron to the team as a Lead Contractor, where he will focus predominantly upon the company secretariat, regulatory and compliance areas.  Lucien has the following qualifications: Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Laws; Advanced Diploma in Company Law and is an admitted Attorney of the High Court of South Africa.

After being admitted to practice in the High Court of South Africa, Lucien specialised in commercial law and commercial litigation for a number of years.

After leaving legal practice, Lucien joined the commercial world and held the position of Group Company Secretary for both unlisted and listed companies. During the last 12 years, he has gained extensive experience in company secretarial and corporate governance matters. This includes support to the board of directors and committees, corporate governance and board advisory functions, board effectiveness evaluations, director training and orientation.

He has also gained extensive experience in the fields of regulatory compliance and affairs, legal drafting and opinions, risk management, annual reports,  group insurance portfolios, cover limits and exclusions and renewal processes.

With Lucien’s wealth of experience in both the legal and corporate environment, CGF has added to its unique client offering the knowledge and expertise to professionally meet client’s business needs in its extended governance services.  Moreover, Lucien’s skills complement the CGF offering to provide its clients with a holistic approach to governance, risk and compliance (GRC)

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CGF receives a governance boost from its Honorary Patron: J Michael Judin (19 Jan '11)

Johannesburg: CGF Press Release

For a number of years, CGF Research Institute (Pty) Ltd (‘CGF’) has become known as an organisation concerned about raising the awareness and need for sound governance practices within business and government.  In its earlier days, CGF was mostly involved in providing a few interested clients a set of hand-packed slides that would cover a few salient points regarding King I and thereafter King II.  Years later, CGF provides extensive coverage of governance reports via web based applications to many corporates, locally and internationally based, amongst other governance, risk and compliance related services.

In 2003, when CGF was in a start-up mode and still trying to establish its credentials and services, there was not a huge interest from the market and the company relied on any form of outside assistance it could receive to help it along in its journey.  Of course, similar to most start-ups, the journey was not only a tough pioneering one, but also extremely difficult considering that there was the Institute of Directors of Southern Africa who was an already established organisation and custodian of the governance arena, as well as the large auditing firms who provided various forms of consulting in this complex field.  Trying to find our way and establish our niche became easier when our clients became more aware of CGF’s objectives to impart governance related information at the “right time and right place” so to speak.  Of course, we also had great business partners, associates and friends which are still in place today, and who would guide the development process of what CGF has become today.

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