SAP Supports African Convention on Business Integrity; Promoting Business Integrity and Transparency for Sustainable Development.

Business/High Tech Editors

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 22, 2001

SAP AG (NYSE:SAP), the world's leading provider of e-business software solutions, is becoming the most significant corporate supporter of the Convention on Business Integrity in Africa.

Attending a meeting of the International Task Force on Information Society and Development in South Africa, SAP's CEO and co-founder Hasso Plattner announced that his company was committed to providing funding and assistance to the convention. The convention aims to promote business integrity and transparency as a basis for sustainable development. SAP produces software solutions that help make business processes transparent and efficient, and therefore identifies with the convention's mission.

SAP's support will enable the Convention on Business Integrity to fund the setup of its secretariat in Nigeria, and pave the way for a potentially global rollout of the initiative. Furthermore, the software solution provider calls for corporations doing business in Africa to line up behind the initiative.

Established in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1997, the Convention on Business Integrity tackles the issue of integrity in the private sector. The convention promotes ethical conduct, transparency and accountability. Its founding members are Integrity, an anti-corruption non-governmental organization (NGO) set up by Nigerian businessmen; Transparency in Nigeria, a national chapter of Transparency International; and numerous local and multinational businesses. The convention seeks to increase the level of business confidence in Africa by certifying its members' integrity.

"We felt a natural chemistry between the aims of the convention and our own corporate conduct and services," Plattner said. "The convention's principles are very much in line with SAP's philosophy. Strengthening business process transparency in Africa will help increase investor confidence and bring about greater investment inflows benefiting all."