Construction World January 2017

The initiative is the brainchild of Damian Judge, Kaytech’s financial director, who assessed the Government’s drive to grow smaller businesses thus, “While allocating them specific sized contracts to help secure projects, improve skills and potentially grow their businesses is noble, no one stops to assess whether or not these companies are financially stable, or have good financial structures in place to adequately plan these jobs and manage their cash flows.” Judge contacted The Hope Factory, which specialises in financial and business mentorship of small businesses; helping them to understand the financial aspects of running a business and ensuring that they are legally compliant. Kaytech hosted a lunch at which The Hope Factory presented their business model and Judge presented their smaller customers with an opportunity for four customers to join the two-month programme. This holistic mentoring programme includes a Business Development Class (12 hours per month) and supplies relevant feedback and measurement reports on the progress of each entrepreneur. Judge clarifies his objectives as follows, “Big businesses all need to spend money on business development from a B-BBEE perspective and some choose to pay it straight to an organisation like The Hope Factory and get their points. At Kaytech, we chose to use that spending to add value to our customers, by showing an interest in improving their businesses and hopefully they will Hope for B-BBEE entrepreneurs Kaytech has implemented the first of an exciting new B-BBEE initiative to help improve their own customers’ business skills. By contracting The Hope Factory to provide a business mentorship programme to four selected small business owners and customers of Kaytech, they are helping them to grow their businesses and become financially stable.

He encourages members to participate in supplying information through the system, so that accurate data could be built up over time. The BCCEI facilitates collective bargaining between employer organisations and trade unions that are party to the council; it also monitors compliance with the agreed minimum conditions of employment.  To allow member companies to register more easily, as well as to submit levy returns online, the Bargaining Council for the Civil Engineering Industry (BCCEI) has developed a competent and user friendly electronic system. Testimonials from some of the first ‘graduates’ of the Kaytech mentorship programme: “The Hope Factory, through Kaytech, has provided me with knowledge of business that I was not aware of; such as the accounting aspects and how important it is to keep your personal financial activities separate from business activities,” – Abongile Nonkelela, Nonky Civil Construction & Plant Hire. “The training was good and I have improved my practical skills and gained knowledge and understanding from all the speakers,” – Moses Zondo, Nkangala Construction. “The Hope Factory and Kaytech have opened up my eyes on many aspects of my core business and the compliances needed,” – Wiseman Motsami Motaung, WM Motaung Civils. return the favour by buying more products from us and being loyal supporters of the Kaytech brand. But that’s not a given so we are trying to do our bit by improving the industry we operate in.” Jackie Gossman, senior executive at The Hope Factory, shares why they valued working with Kaytech: “We recognize the benefits of partnerships of this nature with the private sector. Collectively we can have a far greater impact on entrepreneurial development in our country”. 

Easier, quicker registrations and returns To allow member companies to register more easily, as well as to submit levy returns online, the Bargaining Council for the Civil Engineering Industry (BCCEI) has developed a competent and user friendly electronic system.

According to Nick Faasen, BCCEI general secretary, electronic registrations can be accepted through the organisation’s website. He also encourages member companies to submit their levy returns electronically rather than using the previous, manual method. “We are pleased to offer members this quicker system, especially as it will largely eliminate human error,” Faasen says. “If the levy return is the same as the one submitted the previous month, it can just be duplicated using a one-click system – saving time and improving productivity for everyone involved.” He says the system has another valuable benefit – to enable BCCEI to further develop its database and to gather verifiable statistics from the industry. “Certain statistics relating to the civil engineering sector are available, but they are lumped together with the construction industry and do not accurately represent our sector,” he says. “We need to build up our own statistics and this electronic system will allow us to do that.”

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD JANUARY 2017