Taking Responsibility - Youth Development Trust in South Africa

In 2014, Ipsos in South Africa decided to show dedicated commitment to the B-BBEE (broad-based black economic empowerment) Codes of Good Practice which is part of every company’s score card – and is a commercial imperative for doing business in South Africa.

The team created the “Ipsos Youth Development Trust” that will own 26% of shareholding in the company. This will push the company up in the B-BBEE rating and give it a competitive advantage in South Africa’s market.

On November 20th, the constituting Board meeting took place in Johannesburg, under the leadership of the Chairman, Harald Hasselmann, with the seven Board members. The Trust’s focus on youth development will also be aligned with the Global Ipsos Foundation that is supporting projects in a similar space of activities.

Said Harald Hasselmann:

It was my strong personal belief that founding this Trust will lead Ipsos in South Africa into a new space of performance, in terms of our commitment to transformation and corporate social responsibility in South Africa, in terms of competitive positioning in the region, and in terms of a strong signal to our people with Ipsos as the place to be.

As a result Ipsos in South Africa is now ranked on level 2 in B-BBEE rating, after being only level 6 out of 8 three years ago.