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The B-BBEE scorecard is the points-based table that measures your business’s broad-based black economic empowerment contribution across five elements — ownership, management control, skills development, enterprise and supplier development, and socio-economic development — with your total score setting your recognition level from 1 (highest) to 8. For most South African employers, the fastest and most controllable points sit in skills development, where planned staff training counts directly toward your score.
This guide explains the five elements, where training fits, and how BOTI’s corporate training turns your skills-development budget into measurable points. We quote every programme free.
The business problem: a scorecard that decides who you trade with
For a growing number of South African businesses, the B-BBEE scorecard is a gate, not a “nice to have.” Your level shapes whether you win tenders, whether larger corporates keep you on their supplier list, and how customers score you on their own enterprise and supplier development. Yet it is widely misunderstood:
- It looks like a compliance form, not a strategy. Many owners treat verification as a once-a-year scramble and leave easy points on the table.
- The elements are not equal, and training spend is often undocumented. Ownership is slow to change, but skills development can be improved this financial year — yet without clean records aligned to the scorecard, that spend never converts into points.
This guide is for South African organisations improving their own scorecard by developing staff and teams — not for individuals seeking a personal qualification. It suits business owners and MDs chasing a better level, HR and L&D managers planning a Workplace Skills Plan that also earns points, finance, procurement and tender managers who need their level to stand up in bids, and Skills Development Facilitators (SDFs) structuring spend against the levy and the skills-development element. BOTI’s consultants map the training side to your scorecard.
What the B-BBEE scorecard covers: the five elements
Under the Amended Codes of Good Practice, the generic scorecard measures five elements. Sector codes (construction, ICT, tourism, property and others) adjust the weightings and targets, so confirm which code applies to you. As a general guide:
| Scorecard element | What it measures | Indicative weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership | Effective black ownership, including voting rights and economic interest. | ~25 points |
| Management control | Black representation across board, executive and management levels. | ~19 points |
| Skills development | Spend and effort on training and developing black employees and learners. | ~20 points + bonus |
| Enterprise & supplier development | Procurement from B-BBEE suppliers, plus support for small and black-owned businesses. | ~40 points |
| Socio-economic development | Contributions that benefit black communities and beneficiaries. | ~5 points |
Ownership, skills development, and enterprise and supplier development are “priority elements.” Most sector codes set a sub-minimum on each — miss it and your overall level is discounted, which is why skills development matters out of proportion to its weighting. Your total points set your recognition level, from Level 1 (highest, 135% procurement recognition) down to Level 8, with non-compliant businesses recognised at 0%.
Where training fits: the skills-development element
Skills development is the element where training converts most directly into points — and the one you can improve in a single financial year. It rewards:
- Skills-development spend on black employees, measured against a target of 6% of the leviable amount (not 6% of payroll), with separate consideration for black employees with disabilities.
- Learnerships, internships and apprenticeships placing black learners on accredited programmes — significant weighting plus bonus points.
- Absorption — bonus points for taking learners into permanent employment afterwards.
Much of this is spend you may already be making — what is missing is alignment and documentation. The training must also be recognised and recorded: programmes aligned to the relevant SETA or QCTO, delivered to the right employees, with outcomes captured for your verification file.
Want to turn your training budget into scorecard points? Request a quote or free 15-minute callback on 011-882-8853 or via the BOTI booking page, and ask for our free Skills-Development Planning Checklist that maps your spend to the element.
How BOTI helps you score
BOTI does not carry out your B-BBEE verification — that is the role of an accredited verification agency. We deliver the corporate training that feeds the skills-development element, in a form your SDF and verifier can record:
- SETA/QCTO-aligned courses producing credit-bearing outcomes for black employees that count toward your spend, alongside practical skills programmes where fast competence is the priority.
- Learnership and skills-programme delivery for black learners, feeding the high-weighting learnership and absorption lines.
- SDF training and Workplace Skills Plan support so spend is planned, documented and reported correctly.
- Whole-team skills training — management, finance, sales, customer service, computer and compliance — that develops your people while feeding the element.
The result is a planned, documented training year that converts your budget into points — rather than spend that disappears without a scorecard trace.
Delivery formats and national reach
Choose the format that fits your teams:
- In-house / on-site at your premises — usually the most cost-effective option for a group, built around your own systems and real scenarios.
- Off-site at a venue in a major centre — for teams that prefer to train away from the office.
- Virtual / remote instructor-led — efficient for distributed, multi-branch and hybrid teams, fully interactive, no travel cost.
BOTI delivers across Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria, plus remote delivery nationwide — so head office and regional teams train to one standard and feed a single skills-development record.
Accreditation
This guide to the B-BBEE scorecard is informational — it is not itself an accredited qualification. As a provider, however, BOTI (Business Optimization Training Institute) is an accredited South African training provider — Services SETA 12582, MICT SETA ACC/2016/07/0045, and a QCTO Quality Partner. For the skills-development element, training counts most effectively when it is aligned to the relevant SETA or QCTO, with appropriate qualifications, part-qualifications or skills programmes and assessment; where you need fast competence rather than credits, practical courses carry a Certificate of Attendance. Either way, attendance and outcomes are documented cleanly so the training records into your Annual Training Report (ATR) and supports verification. Because some legacy SETA unit-standard qualifications are migrating to the new QCTO system, please confirm current accreditation for the specific programme when you book.
Funding: Skills Development budget and B-BBEE points together
As general guidance:
- Employers above the threshold pay the Skills Development Levy (SDL) at 1% of payroll, and can recover a portion through mandatory and discretionary grants by submitting a Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) and Annual Training Report (ATR).
- The B-BBEE skills-development target is measured against 6% of the leviable amount — not 6% of payroll — so planned, documented training of black employees contributes directly to your scorecard.
On tenders, note that under the PPPFA 2022 regulations bids are scored against “specific goals” — such as HDI ownership (race, gender and disability) and RDP objectives — rather than a generic B-BBEE level, and the Public Procurement Act 28 of 2024 introduces set-asides. This is general information, not financial or legal advice — confirm specifics with your SETA, SDF or accredited B-BBEE verification professional.
Why BOTI
BOTI is an accredited South African corporate training provider with 450 courses and a client base that includes Sasol, Glencore and the City of Johannesburg — one partner for the training that feeds your skills-development element, with the records to prove it.
Improving your scorecard is rarely one course — most clients build a plan from across these pages:
- Understanding B-BBEE skills development — the pillar guide to how training maps to the skills-development element.
- Skills development training — plan, structure and report your spend.
- Skills Development Facilitator (SDF) training — equip the person who owns your WSP, ATR and SETA reporting.
- Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) — the plan underpinning both your grant claim and your scorecard.
- Increase your B-BBEE score with learnerships — the high-weighting learnership and absorption route to points.
- Accredited course catalogue — SETA/QCTO-aligned programmes that count toward your spend.
Our consultants map the training side of your scorecard across teams, topics and budget — and quote it free.
Frequently asked questions
What is the B-BBEE scorecard? The B-BBEE scorecard is the points-based tool that measures a business’s broad-based black economic empowerment contribution across five elements under the Amended Codes of Good Practice. Your total score sets your recognition level from 1 (highest) to 8. Sector codes adjust the weightings and targets, so confirm which applies to your business.
What are the five B-BBEE elements? Ownership, management control, skills development, enterprise and supplier development, and socio-economic development. Ownership, skills development, and enterprise and supplier development are priority elements with sub-minimums on most sector codes, so falling short on any one discounts your overall level.
How does staff training improve our B-BBEE score? Training feeds the skills-development element, which rewards spend on developing black employees against a target measured at 6% of the leviable amount, plus learnerships and absorption. When training is aligned to the relevant SETA or QCTO, delivered to the right employees and documented cleanly, that spend converts into scorecard points — the element most employers can improve fastest.
Does BOTI do our B-BBEE verification? No. Verification is carried out by an accredited B-BBEE verification agency, not by a training provider. BOTI delivers the corporate training and learnerships that feed your skills-development element, with clean attendance and outcome records your SDF and verifier can recognise.
Is the 6% target based on payroll? No — a common misconception. The B-BBEE skills-development target is measured against 6% of the leviable amount, not 6% of payroll. The Skills Development Levy is a separate 1% of payroll. Confirm exact figures with your SDF, SETA or accredited B-BBEE verification professional. This is general guidance, not financial or legal advice.
Request a quote or a 15-minute callback
Stop leaving easy scorecard points on the table. Request a quote or book a free 15-minute callback and a BOTI consultant will scope a training plan around your skills-development element. Call 011-882-8853 or ask for our free Skills-Development Planning Checklist to map your training spend to your scorecard before your next verification.