Build your structure
Start from one of the worked examples, or build your own: set what the business is worth and how long ago the deal happened, then add each shareholder. The scorecard updates as you type. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
Start from a worked example
1. Your business
What is the business worth? Use the fair market value of 100% of the company — what a willing buyer would pay for the whole business today. An honest estimate is fine in this calculator (a recent offer, or a sensible multiple of sustainable profit). At a real verification the value must come from a standard valuation method — normal market practice, such as a discounted cash flow or an earnings multiple — so have one done before you sign a deal. This figure only drives the net-value line below.
Why pick a year? Planning a deal now? It will be measured every year, against a bar that rises for ten years. Pick a year to make it the headline result — and check the ten-year strip in the results, because deals that pass in year one often fail around year nine.
2. Who holds the shares
Listed: 0% · unlisted 100% is treated as non-black- Black individualAlso counts toward
- Other shareholder
Holds shares but earns nothing on the ownership scorecard — add it so the structure adds up to 100%.
Your ownership scorecard
0 / 25
Net value is below the 3.2-point floor (0 of 8 points in year 1). Ownership is a priority element, so on these numbers your whole B-BBEE level drops by one — however well you score elsewhere. See net value explained.
| Item | What is measured | You | Target | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1.1 | Exercisable voting rights — black people | 0% | 25% + 1 vote | 0 / 4 |
| 2.1.2 | Exercisable voting rights — black women | 0% | 10% | 0 / 2 |
| 2.2.1 | Economic interest — black people | 0% | 25% | 0 / 4 |
| 2.2.2 | Economic interest — black women | 0% | 10% | 0 / 2 |
| 2.2.3 | Designated groups, scheme participants & co-op members | 0% | 3% | 0 / 3 |
| 2.2.4 | Black new entrants | 0% | 2% | 0 / 2 |
| 2.3.1 | Net value — what is genuinely owned once debt is deducted | — | 25% benchmark, 10% due by year 1 | 0 / 8 |
Net value, in plain terms
Think of a house with a bond: a R2 million house with R1,8 million still owing means you really own R200 000. The net value line asks the same question of your black shareholders — after subtracting what they still owe for their shares, how much of the company is genuinely theirs? The Codes then expect that genuine slice to grow: the bar starts low (10% of the full target in year one) and reaches 100% by year nine — which is why the “how long ago” setting matters. The line is worth 8 of the 25 points, and it is the one with teeth: score under 3.2 of those 8 and your whole B-BBEE level drops by one.
The calculator measures this two ways and counts the lower: (A) the shares’ value minus the outstanding debt, against the rising bar — on your numbers, 0 points; and (B) the slice black shareholders are entitled to, against the full 25% benchmark — 0 points. (B) is why even a debt-free deal scores low if the underlying stake is small — and the 51% rule never reaches this line. Full story: net value explained.
Net value over the deal’s first ten years
click a year to make it the headline result
Each cell shows the net-value points (of 8) for that year, against the floor of 3.2. A deal you sign today is measured every year — if later years show fail, the deal works now but is built to break as the bar rises. Debt that shrinks (or a business that grows) turns late years green; model the funding dynamics in the net value calculator.
What this means for your level
Ownership is 25 of the 109 scorecard points. Type in what you expect from the other four elements (we deliberately don’t calculate those here) and see where you land:
0 ownership + 60 other = 60 points → Level 7 on points, discounted to Level 8 (10% recognition) because the net-value floor is missed. See what that level is worth.
Where your biggest points are
- +8Net value is the gap: reduce the acquisition debt, grow the genuine stake, or remove a diluting layer in the chain. Read how
- +4Black shareholders hold too few exercisable votes — check for pledges, proxies or suspended votes as well as the percentage. Read how
- +4The black economic interest (the claim on dividends and value) is below target. Read how
Nothing you type here is sent to us or anyone else — the calculator runs entirely in your browser, and your last session is saved on your own device only. The “shareable link” packs your inputs into the link itself, so only share it with people you would show the structure to. This calculator is a faithful illustration of the scorecard mechanics in Statement 100 (and Statement 601 for a QSE) as set out in our guide — it is not a verification, and not advice. Simplifications: one percentage per shareholder is used for both votes and economic interest; the 25% net-value benchmark is the figure agencies apply in practice (the Codes print “Refer to Annexe C”); the 40% scheme cap is apportioned as the points those vehicles add. If a sector code applies to your industry, its targets may differ. Model the real deal with an adviser before you sign anything.
How it scores your structure
The calculator does exactly what the Codes do, in the same order. It looks through every company, scheme or trust to the black people behind it and multiplies the percentages down the chain (the flow-through principle). If you apply the 51% rule to one qualifying company, only the two black-people lines are boosted — black women, new entrants, designated groups and net value stay on the ordinary look-through numbers, which is why the rule cannot rescue a structure failing on net value. Each line then scores proportionally against its target and is capped at its points.
Net value is the line to watch. The calculator takes the lower of two results: the black shareholders’ shares net of their acquisition debt against a target that rises to 100% by year nine, and their underlying stake against the full 25% benchmark. It then tests the result against the 3.2-point sub-minimum — miss it and your whole level is discounted by one. For the year-by-year dynamics of a funded deal, use the net value calculator alongside this one.
What to do with the result
Treat the score as a diagnosis, not a verdict. If the structure fails on net value, the fixes are usually structural: less debt (or a lower funding rate), a bigger genuine stake, removing a non-black co-investor from an intermediate company, or a free-carried element. If a scheme is capped at 10 points, the fix is operational — give it a real administrator, advisers and premises, and run it properly. Work through choosing a structure, and take independent legal, tax, valuation and B-BBEE advice on the actual documents before anything is signed.
Frequently asked questions
It faithfully reproduces the scorecard mechanics in Statement 100 — flow-through, the 51% rule, proportional capped scoring, the two net-value formulas with the rising target, the 40% scheme cap and the 3.2-point sub-minimum — and it reproduces our guide’s worked examples to within rounding. But it is an illustration, not a verification: agencies apply their own methodology, votes and economic interest can differ per shareholder, and sector codes change the targets.
Usually one of two reasons. Either the black shareholders’ acquisition debt is close to the value of their shares (formula A), or their underlying flow-through stake is too small against the 25% benchmark (formula B — the one the 51% rule cannot rescue). Net value takes the lower of the two, and missing 3.2 of its 8 points drops your whole level by one.
No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser — nothing you type is submitted, stored or sent to us or anyone else. Refreshing the page clears it.
Yes — switch the scorecard to QSE and the calculator applies the Statement 601 splits: 5/2 for votes, 5/2 for economic interest, a combined 3-point “new entrants or black designated groups” line at a 2% target, and 8 for net value. One caveat it applies: on the QSE scorecard a scheme does not reach the combined line just by being a scheme — the people behind it must qualify.