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Nur Samuels, AIDS Research and Information Consultant in Metropolitan's AIDS Research Division, was one of the founders of the Western Cape AIDS Business Forum.The forum was composed of representatives from a number of companies, such as British Petroleum and South African Breweries, in which organisations identified HIV/AIDS as a strategic issue to be addressed.The primary objective of the forum was to share experiences and insights regarding the management of the epidemic, effective problem solving, and to report the information back to each company. The forum was established from a growing desire experienced within South African companies to implement AIDS programmes that were effective in building capabilities, processes and practices concerning HIV/AIDS management. Because management was resistant to confronting the issue of HIV/AIDS, both successes and failures were rarely recorded in the public domain. Organisations had only recently acknowledged the impact of AIDS on business. Samuels recognised a desperate need for the documentation of 'best practice' with regard to managing HIV/AIDS in the workplace. Metropolitan was one of the early leaders in taking action against the epidemic in South Africa.The company carried out a range of internal and external HIV/AIDS initiatives, as well as offering products and services. Nevertheless, Samuels saw several weaknesses in her company's response. In order to strengthen usefulness of the initiatives, she decided to document and assess the effectiveness of existing activities.This would allow the forum, as well as others, to learn collectively from Metropolitan's experience and to build institutional capacity to manage the HIV/AIDS epidemic.