Current Edition >> Archive Section >> Special Features >> November 2002
Having merged nine towns, including Boksburg, Brakpan, Germiston, Springs, Kempton Park, Benoni, Alberton, etc., to form the Ekuhurleni Metropolitan Municipality on the East Rand in December 2000, the task of building a synergetic relationship between the municipality and the business sector was set in motion in April 2002 with a meeting between the municipality and some top 100 businesses in the region. This eventuated in the establishing of the Ekuhureleni Business Initiative (EBI).
Many of the challenges that the metro is presently facing, relate to the mining industry, which previously has played a key role in the development of the region. The impact of a range of business closures needs also to be assessed thoroughly. Other challenges are the large number of residents who cannot contribute to the community because of a lack of quantifiable skills.
EBI is thus an initiative by Ekuhurleni businesspeople themselves decided to grab the bull by the horns and to do what they can to upgrade the level, volume and quality of business in the region, to promote the SMME sector and to lure new investments to the region. EBI is a Section 21 company, encompassing several previous chambers of business in the region and is at present in a process of implementing a strategic action plan engaging all roleplayers and stakeholders both inside and outside Ekuhurleni.
Meanwhile Blue IQ, the initiative to regenerate Gauteng, is seen as a major way of providing support to the manufacturing industry in the Ekuhurleni area. To this end several projects, such as the development of the Wadeville Alrode super-manufacturing zone and the Germiston-Daveyton activity corridor, the development of the R21 corridor, as well as the Johannesburg International Airport industrial development zone, are set to rejuvenate the region.
Gauteng MEC for Finance and Economic Affairs, Jabu Moleketi underscored the importance of the region to South Africa and Africa in general by stating that the area contains the busiest airport in Africa and produces the most manufactured goods on the continent. In addition, he noted that Nepad could be instrumental in providing opportunities to companies to help the rest of Africa on a business basis. Moreover, the region is becoming increasingly important as a food processing hub, with a view to growing exports, especially in the light of the exchange rate situation.
The CEO of EBI is Chris van Biljon, while the COO is Hannes Terblanche - office tel. (011) 7404484 or e-mail ebi@ffg.net. The website of SA Tradelink can be found at www.satradelink.co.za, while other relevant websites are www.gautrain.co.za and www.tradedge.co.za.
Although this feature on business in Ekuhurleni not even constitutes a peephole on reality, it nevertheless reflects businesses that are serious about business.
At Metropolitan Life in the region, Leon Kriek and his team makes special provision for the needs of SME's as regards a customised range of financial products, inter alia staff benefits for small and medium enterprises.
Unilever is a huge multinational corporate with some of its roots more than half a century deep in the Ekuhurleni region. It is a company whose products just about span the dimensions of human life itself.
Pat Hinde Toyota also really means business, realizing that what actually put you a step ahead of your competition is the quality of your service. Do put Nic Muller and his team to the test !
Of course the Ekuhurleni Business Initiative (EBI) themselves are committed to making a difference in a big way. If you want to expand, network or inves in the Ekuhurleni region, talk to Chris van Biljon and his team.
On 9 October 2002 EBI launched SA Tradelink, a comprehensive and interactive website designed to link Ekuhurleni business with the global market. The launch function, held at the Boksburg Civic Centre, was an impressive event attended by more than 400 business and community leaders, inter alia Clr. Dama Nkosi (executive mayor of Ekuhurleni Metro), Ms. Susan Shabangu (Deputy Minister for Minerals and Energy), Mr. Jack van der Merwe (project manager of Blue IQ Gautrain) and others.
In his address, executive mayor Nkosi pointed out that the Ekuhurleni Metro Municipality covers 3 million residents, employs 15 000 people and has an annual budget of R8,4 billion.
Deputy Minister Shabangu said in her speech that the new Mining Act should be utilized to develop Ekuhurleni as a manufacturing hub. She seriously cautioned, however, against the region becoming a crime hub, saying the residents themselves should tackle this threat. Ms. Shabangu also emphasized appropriate skills development.
The ever-changing challenges in the business world require different responses from business organisations such as business chambers / "sakekamers". While a decade ago the representative function was the main reason for businesses joining chambers, the focus has now shifted to business opportunities and direct benefits. Networking with local and provincial authorities is viewed as crucial in creating a better business environment. Particularly SMME's look for networking, synergy and access to contacts within a broader framework.
In the Ekurhuleni region covering the East Rand the transformation from nine local authorities to eventually a single unicity (metro), created a different landscape for business to operate in. In order to build bridges in this new governmental and business landscape, the Ekurhuleni Business Initiative (EBI) was established as an umbrella business organisation and a forum for various Ekurhuleni business representative bodies, whether SACOB-affiliated or not.
Since the EBI views small, medium and micro enterprises as the main drivers of economic growth and creators of employment, the EBI strongly believes in developing and promoting SMME's optimally. Moreover, in the era of globalisation it is essential for the EBI and its members to explore business opportunities beyond its borders.
Therefore the EBI has prioritised the following:
• Promoting local economic development.
• Empowering SMME's.
• Supporting Blue IQ projects / GAUMAC programs / NEPAD initiatives.
• Concentrating on grassroots problems being experienced by its members.
The future development of the EBI movement will thus depend on our ability to affiliate the united voice of organised business and the measure in which we are able to adapt to the changing business environment, yet remain dedicated to the challenges facing the Ekurhuleni metro region. In this process the EBI recognises that not only needs business in the region to be upgraded, but new investments have to be lured to the region. A strong rallying point in this regard, is the fact that Ekurhuleni covers what is generally regarded as being the strongest manufacturing area on the continent of Africa. Such strongpoints should be utilised to its fullest possible potential.
The EBI accepts that the Ekurhuleni business community finds itself in unprecedented times - times characterized by stringent demands as well as unlimited potential. This challenge the EBI accepts enthusiastically and purposefully.
SA Tradelink: The EBI, along with First National Bank, created SA Tradelink, an organization aimed at presenting seminars and workshops on exports to the manufacturing industry in the Ekurhuleni metro region. As such it offers provision for cross border payment, risk mitigation solutions, guarantees covering performance obligations and the structuring of trade finance transactions. All members of the EBI are listed on the advanced website of SA Tradelink - advertising space also available.
Contact: For more information, contact us as below.
1 Athlone Ave
Dalview
Brakpan
Tel: (011) 740-4456
(011) 740-4484
Fax: (011) 744-2885
Some R800 million of the Gauteng provincial government's R3,5 billion budget for its Blue IQ initiative has been spent to date - the rest of the R3,5 billion is to be spent over the next three years. Blue IQ involves 11 Gauteng-based projects setting up the type of infrastructure required by modern knowledge-based sectors and industries, such as information and communication technology, high value-added manufacturing and tourism.
The Gauteng provincial government is expecting a return on investments of R100 billion over the next 15 to 20 years, resulting in the creation of some 100 000 new jobs.
At the Wadeville Alrode Industrial Corridor some R112 million is being invested in infrastructural development and a manufacturing advice centre in an effort to ensure the continued economic well-being of the East Rand. The R213 million industrial development zone (IDZ), clustering light manufacturing, avionics and aerospace industries around Johannesburg International Airport is currently under way.
An innovative, sophisticated and simple-to-use software system, called inTouch Africa and developed over the past five years by the CSIR Division for Information and Communications Technology (CSIR icomtek) in Pretoria, is currently being implemented for the benefit of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME's) at local business service centres (LBSC's)
inTouch Africa®
inTouch Africa®, registered as a trademark, is a software package enabling a LBSC by supporting a number of its critical functions concerning SMME's. It addresses in an interactive way the needs of a centre in three respects : Case, content and contact management. Thus in terms of inTouch Africa the LBSC or even any outside person / business / institution utilizing the system could trace the comprehensive detail of a SMME, including its track and performance record. There is also room on inTouch Africa® for SMME's to advertise - place their electronic pamphlets, so to speak.
More specifically, inTouch Africa provides practitioners at local level with easy-to-use but still powerful and flexible tools to support various functions of local level service centres (LBSC's, MPCC's, etc.). Functions include the capability to build and maintain a local level catalogue of all resources and capacities within the local community as well as of service providers and commercial entities in the immediate environment.
It also supports the compilation of SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analyses for local entrepreneurs or even civil entities. The tools also include a module that supports the compilation of well-structured and meaningful business plans. Information captured at local level can be distributed in electronic form over media like the internet and at self-help kiosks, as well as in printed and CD ROM format.
Role of LBSC's
LBSC's serve as a dissemination network for local, provincial and national government services with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT's) forming a vital enabler for this service network.
CSIR icomtek
Applying ICT's as an enabling layer in this arena, it aims at the development and implementation of ICT based tools and services that can be used by various entities at community and service provider level, thus establishing one-stop service delivery for integrated and sustainable development.
The efforts of the CSIR Division for Information and Communications Technology (icomtek) focus on providing basic connectivity and ICT applications as well as specific information and knowledge resources for sectors like agriculture, cultural industries, tourism, health and education.
Implementation of inTouch Africa®
InTouch Africa® is currently being implemented in LBSC's troughout the country under contract from Ntsika. The CSIR is also deploying inTouch Africa® in Multi-purpose Community Centres (MPCC's) in deep rural districts in the Limpopo Province and the Eastern Cape. This effort is part of the Kellogg Foundation's support for Integrated Rural Development in these areas.
The deployment of these software tools at national level could pave the way for the building and maintenance of a national electronic catalogue of all appropriate resources in the development arena.
Leapfrogging of development
In keeping with the sustainability emphasis of LBSC's, the CSIR provides technical as well as business skills training to the operators of these centres with a view to creating a new brand of entrepreneur - a special group of people that can be called "infopreneurs". The efforts of the CSIR recognise the importance of cost-effective and sustainable implementation of ICT's for development. They also regard community ownership and an entrepreneurial spirit as essential drivers in the process to leapfrog national development efforts. It is the only way South Africa can keep pace with fast-moving global trends.
As a tangible example of practical foreign assistance to economic development in South Africa, the involvement of the Italian NGO, CISP South Africa, in the Northen Cape could be cited.
International background
CISP is a non-profit Italian non-governmental organisation (NGO) set up in 1982 and operating in the international co-operation field. In order to achieve its aims, CISP, in strict collaboration with local partners, carries out development, rehabilitation, humanitarian, applied and social research programmes in more than 20 countries in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe. The priority sectors are: SMME development, micro-credit, rural development, food security and poverty alleviation, etc.
Northern Cape
CISP started its activities in Kimberley in April 2000 with a project financed by the Italian government to support small, micro and medium enterprises (SMME's) in the Northern Cape Province; in February 2001 a second project, to support SMME's was initiated with financial support from the European Union. The projects, in line with the SA Government's National Strategy for the Development and Promotion of Small Business, have been designed to assist the Northern Cape Dept. of Economic Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) in its effort to promote the SMME sector.
Consequently promotion of the SMME sector is being channelled through existing Local Business Service Centres (LBSC's), which have been identified as the most important tool to assist the growth of the small and micro enterprises. Discussions between the CISP, DEAT, LBSC's and other SMME's stakeholders have led to a new SMME policy focusing on the development of a regional SMME agency linked together via the Northern Cape LBSC Co-ordinating Body (NC LBSC CB).
The latter was subsequently enlarged to include all other SMME service providers in the province (i.e LBSC's only accredited by Ntsika and other SMME service providers). The rational behind this enlargement was to develop a body able to function in the long run as a sort of provincial agency for SMME development and which through a strategic alliance with SMME actors could reduce costs, rationalise different programmes, increase productivity, etc.
CISP has also provided direct support to the LBSC's, focusing on two different, but complementary, types of capacity building exercises. Training of LBSC's personnel and government officials involved in the SMME's strategy in order to strength their technical and operational capabilities, was prioritised. At the same time, CISP together with LBSC's, has identified local entrepreneurs who are operative at various levels of activities (i.e. start-up, newly established and existing businesses) to provide specific training (i.e. basic principles of enterprise management, pricing, book- keeping, improvement of business plan).
In addition to training LBSC staff and entrepreneurs, CISP together with DEAT, has developed a micro credit component in order to address the lack of access to financial support for SMME's. Since September 2002 a micro credit scheme is operative as a pilot exercise in the Frances Baard region (previously Diamantveld). This scheme, which provides loans of up to a maximum of R20 000, is run in conjunction with Standard Bank and the Kimberley Local Business Service Centre.
Database Intouch Africa
CISP together with the CSIR has been instrumental in the development and utilisation of a SMME database, In- touch Africa, among the LBSC's in the Northern Cape.
Since October 2002 all LBSC's are linked with a central hub located in the office of the SMME Desk of the DEAT.
This allows the centre to share information among themselves and also to provide information of SMME's operating in the Northern Cape to an external user. At the same time the DEAT can use the system to properly monitor the activities of the LBSC and to gather and process vital SMME information.
Futher Info
For further information on CISP - also as regards possible application in other provinces - contact Bruno Venditto, Project Manager, at 053 8394018, fax 8328381, email cisp@met.ncape.gov.za
At a gala banquet held on 1 November 2002 at Klerksdorp, the business achievers for 2002 of the Wesvaal Chamber of Business were announced. The achievers in the various categories are as follows:
• BUSINESS PERSON OF THE YEAR
Abie Mokhele
Thaba Nchu Mining &Construction (Pty) Ltd.
Duly qualified in mining engineering and having earned his salt in corporate mining, Abie made the cross-over to mining entrepreneurship successfully on own steam.
Together with co-directors Geoff Nye and Jan Heyneke, Abie has made TBM an industry leader in SA in producing machinery and equipment for underground tunnelling and physical exploitation of mineral ores. The demand for the services and machinery of Group T is tremendous and in order to comply, the Group has been divided up in various, self-sustaining and autonomous companies serving different geographical areas in South Africa.
By all accounts, Abie is a worthy winner of the Wesvaal Chamber of Business's highest award.
• CORPORATE BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
KDM Group of Companies
It all started in 1948 when six mine managers of mines in the Klerksdorp area decided to establish a medical aid fund for employees, to be named the Medical Benefit Society of the Klerksdorp District Mines. An office was rented at 9 Pretorius Street, Klerksdorp and in 1949 the first AGM was held at the Palace Hotel. The first premium increase was in 1956 when membership fees was increased by 2 shillings per month.
In 1968 the KDM Pharmacies opened in Klerksdorp, Orkney and Stilfontein. The opening of the dental departments and a dental laboratory in Klerksdorp soon followed. The take-over of the Sunningdale Clinic was next, followed by the establishment of a Radiology Division. In the seventies the KDM Group went from strength to strength and it led to the incorporation of the Medical Scheme into the KDM Group.
The construction of the Wilmed Park Private Hospital was another milestone, leading to the establishment of various other units such as Klerksdorp Radiology Services, the Oncology Unit and the North West Renal Dialysis Centre. Having started off 33 years ago with a staff complement of 10, the group currently employs more than 300 people.
Today the KDM Group can be compared with the best of its kind in South Africa .
• ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR
Ian Haupt
MID Mining CC
M I D Mining was born out of the necessity in the mining industry for specialist low cost mining.
The company's inception occurred in 1999 with the dwindling gold mining industry as one of its major focus points. Ian Haupt started the company with 12 workers (including himself). Their firstt contract was vacuum mining on ARM Gold 2 No. 4 shaft. The operation has now expanded to 27 contracts, with a workforce in excess of 2 000 employees.
Since its inception, the company has shown a 500% growth rate year on year and is still expanding to date. Ventures in Brazil, Peru and Zambia are currently being negotiated, as well as the purchasing of complete South African mines in the process of closing down.
• SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR
Anne Botha
Business Help-line
Anne Botha of Business Help-line - the entrepreneur who saw the gap in the market and took it successfully.
In February 2002, Anne, with two partners, established Business Help-line in its present format as an enterprise to optimally assist local municipalities with their particular needs in terms of skills development. The Skills Development Act, 1998 and the Skills Levy Act, 1998 opened up the market for skills development in various organisations and with this in mind, Anne Botha wrote all the computer software to generate skills development plans, conduct skills gap analysis and print the Workplace Skills Plan specifically for local municipalities. During the past year Business Help-line has written contracts for over R2 million and is directly facilitating Skills Development for over 4 000 municipal workers.
Business Help-line is a typical modern company geared to adapt to the changing business scenario in a new South Africa.
• BUSINESS WOMAN OF THE YEAR
Marlene Dreyer
NW School of Design
• SMALL, MEDIUM AND MICRO ENTERPRISE OF THE YEAR
Belina Moila
• COMMUNITY SERVICE OF THE YEAR
Global Enterprise Trendsetters
Elsa Phillips
• SECRETARY OF THE YEAR
Zeldine Conradie
Klerksdorp City Council
In this feature the achievers are being briefly spotlighted - achievers not for the glory, but all clearly as a result of the will to succeed. In their own right, true business champions - role models worth exampling.
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