Wiphold (Women Investment Portfolio Holdings) is one of the best-known Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) companies. From its headquarters in the exclusive northern Johannesburg suburb of Houghton (Nelson Mandela has a house just up the road), Wiphold has spent more than a decade helping South Africa’s women share in the country’s wealth.
Its founders set up Wiphold in 1994, with a seed capital of R500,000 ($74,000). “Women were left out of wealth creation,” says group CEO Louisa Mojela, one of Wiphold’s co-founders. “In creating wealth for them, we would bring them into the mainstream of the economy. They wouldn’t just be workers and consumers.” Another co-founder was Gloria Serobe, one of South Africa’s highest-profile black businesswomen.
Wiphold is a broad-based BEE company. In 1997, its women-only IPO raised R25 million. A rights offering the following year raised another R76 million. Wiphold is now owned roughly one-third by Old Mutual Specialized Finance, one third by its management and staff, and one-third by the Wiphold Investment Trust and the Wiphold NGO Trust that supports black NGOs. The beneficiaries of the Wiphold Investment Trust are 18,000 women from all over South Africa.
“We set up the Wiphold Investment Trust at the time of the IPO, and for every share you subscribed to, you got a unit in the trust,” says Mojela. “So we were broad-based from day one.” To date, Wiphold has contributed R46 million to its NGO and female beneficiaries. “We have a permanent broad base, we don’t just put packages together for specific deals. And every shareholder in Wiphold is unencumbered,” says Mojela.
Wiphold’s investments include Ericsson, Afrisun Leisure, MCG Industries and ABB . In September it made its first move into consumer goods and services as part of a consortium acquiring a 15% interest in Distell, which produces alcoholic drinks. Its core focus, though, has been financial services, largely because this sector employs so many South African women. It was one of the BBE partners in Old Mutual’s BEE deal, and at the end of October increased its stake in asset manager Futuregrowth, where it is now the majority shareholder.
Wiphold began as an investment holding company. Over time, it has taken a more hands-on approach, both by taking management roles and board appointments at the companies in which it invests and by setting up Wipcapital, its investment banking advisory business.
“We will continue to consolidate our investments, but the big challenge is to deliver on performance expectations,” says Mojela. “We’re also thinking about international alliances, especially in Africa.”
