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Background screenings now a way of life
According to Van der Merwe, there has been a significant increase in the
demand for background screening services in South Africa and Africa,
particularly over the past five years. “Businesses have come to realise
that there are very meaningful benefits to be gained from thoroughly
screening existing and prospective employees.” Background Screening
not only improves the quality of hires, but also improves staff retention,
mitigates risk and reputational harm and assists in managing overall
cost to the company.
The National Qualifications Register (NQR®), which comprises of over
3.5million records is an electronic register that was developed by MIE and
is actively used in the market today for qualification verifications. The
establishment of the NQR® was a major breakthrough in the background
screening industry.
These easy-to-access records enable MIE to quickly and accurately
verify qualifications from 24 subscribing institutions.
In 2015, MIE conducted over 478 000 qualification checks, and of
those, close to 70 000 came back negative, inconsistent or fraudulent.
“Our results for the past 5 years have revealed that a candidate’s
educational history is the most likely to contain discrepancies when
compared to all other background screening checks. I think it’s important
for one to understand the underlying reasons for why a person may be
untruthful on their CV,” Van der Merwe says.
“With over five million unemployed people competing for the same
jobs, temptation, as well as the desperation and anxiety experienced
when unemployed, increases the risk of job-seekers lying about their
professional, criminal and academic histories,” says Van der Merwe.
Afiswitch technology is used to conduct and verify a candidate’s crim-
inal history against the South African Police Service (SAPS) Automated
Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). “It is important that Human
Resource staff consider the position the applicant is applying for and
weigh up their past criminal behaviour. This enables them to make a
fair decision by comparing the criminal history with the job at hand,”
she explains.
Taking the rights of candidates into consideration, MIE only conducts
background verifications on consenting candidates. MIE is a regis-
tered Credit Bureau and complies with the regulations set out in the
National Credit Act when conducting credit checks. The National Credit
Act Amendment (NCAA) promotes a non-discriminatory, transparent,
resourceful and accessible credit market.
Stamping out procurement fraud
In terms of white-collar fraud, Van der Merwe has recognised a trend
on the rise in the South African business environment – corruption and
procurement fraud.
“Looking to the future, we plan to focus on much more than just indi-
vidual screenings. A business, operating in either the private or public
sector, could be exposed to increased costs from fines or investigations as
well as reputational damage should they find themselves in the spotlight
of a corruption scandal,” she says.
Van der Merwe says, “Business leaders have additional resources avail-
able to them to combat procurement fraud, with technology introduced
to the market that is able to assist in identifying potentially corrupt
relationships between vendors and employees.
MIE developed a solution called ZoomOut™, a software application
which filters through employee and vendor information and identify
collusion between procurement officials and suppliers. It is imperative
for businesses and government departments to manage and screen their
tender processes proactively.
It is imperative for businesses and government departments to
take the necessary steps to carefully manage and screen their tender
processes. Growing a legacy
Investing much of her time into the success of her business since those
early days, Van der Merwe still places great emphasis on creating a happy,
stable and caring family environment for her employees.
“As CEO of MIE, my primary role is of course to grow the company,
generate wealth for our shareholders and provide critical services to both
our clients and the country as a whole. “However, what makes me the
happiest is the thought of the 90 people who work for MIE. I don’t look
at them as 90 employees, but rather 90 families who have food on their
table, and this is what I hope will one day be my legacy.”▲
61 CORPORATE PROFILE
have been checked by MIE. In 2015, over 2.5 million transactions were
completed and today MIE operates in over 15 African countries.
MIE was acquired by international background screening company,
Kroll in 2003 due to Ina’s ongoing believe in the background screening
industry and the company growing from strength to strength over the
years. In 2009 South African owned company Muvoni acquired MIE
and final changes came in 2014 when MIE was acquired by JSE-listed
holding company, the EOH Group.
“MIE has remained an independent business, now operating within
the EOH Group. The intention of the acquisition was to grow the company,
rather than change our already very successful business model.”