I've recently returned from a trip to Hazyview in Mpumalanga to help an organisation with BBBEE consulting. I was very impressed with the growth in the area. Hazyview, as well as Nelspruit, is growing - building operations are evident throughout the town/city. I remembered Hazyview as a small "one-horse" town. It is no longer. Shopping centres, with big chains have invested in the area. On Saturday morning, the queues into the banks and the ATMs were 50m long.

Our task in Hazyview was to help a hotel/country estate with BBBEE education and to advise them on various BBBEE initiatives. The manager spent some time explaining to me how the estate operates and what he is doing to grow the business. We usually tell clients that they are probably more BEE compliant than they realise, and this was a case in point. The hotel is already BEE compliant! Decisions made were good business decisions, but they also made BEE sense.