Hidden opportunities

A mate of mine told me an interesting story last week which I wanted to share with our readers.

He has been consulting to a biggish firm for about 6 months now and so he has gotten quite a good idea of how the politics and the people in the office environment work. Most of them don't know his role in the business and assume he's largely an administrative type which suits his role just fine.

The 'economic crisis' (as it has been dubbed by the media) has meant that the business involved has had to speed up some of its business process review.

This culminated last week in a meeting with all the staff of the affected departments from across the country at head office.

As you can imagine, there was plenty of chatter about job security, retrenchments etc.

For my mate, one of the interesting things was that he was able to sit in on the meeting and watch the reactions as management discussed some of the changes that would be happening, particularly around HOW people would be working. He said that even though there was never any mention of job cuts or retrenchments, many of the employees in the group were concerned that the new job descriptions and KPA's would be beyond them and they just wanted to go back to the old way of working.

Interestingly he said thjat it wasn't age that decided whether somebody was enthusiastic about adopting change. The oldest guy on the team (and presumably the person most reluctant to adapt to a technology based change), was the most enthusiastic supporter of the idea.

My mate was intrigued and he asked the guy (Call him Mr X) why he had been enthusiastic about seeing the bigger picture and going with the changes.

Mr X said "The majority of these people working here depend on their salary as their only means of income, if you take the comfort factor away, there is

no room for them to see the opportunities that this presents. Not one of them picked up that the company is paying for them to receive international training that almost no other South African has received - instead they are worried about a pay cheque."

He went on to say "for me I've been in this industry for 37 years and have slowly but steadily built up some sideline sources of income so I am not wholly dependant on my salary to pay the bills."

The above proves that for many people, money does make the world go round. That single pay cheque that most people rely on is there sole motivation - if they stopped focusing on that for a moment and saw the opportunity to receive R20 000 worth of training that they would probably not have received otherwise.

Interesting way to look at things....

All the blood, sweat and tears that went into the making and developing of 12 ICT businesses in the Western Cape paid off when the Cape IT Initiative (CITI) graduated the companies from their business development programme, VeloCITI on Thursday, 23 October.

The VeloCITI programme which aims to help ICT entrepreneurs re-assessing their business model in order to position them for growth, was one of three CITI projects that was highlighted during the ceremony that took place at Kelvin Grove Club in Newlands. The VIP Graduate programme and the My Business Group programme participants and winners were also honoured.

According to Viola Manuel, CITI’s executive director, the VeloCITI programme and its participants have shown significant growth since the launch in 2006. This year’s cumulative monthly turnover grew to R1.62 million from R275,000 over a period of seven months and the cumulative owner’s salaries grew to R172,000 from R21,000. “This continued curve in growth shows a definite need and hunger for sustainable support and mentoring in the market. With the available infrastructure support from the Bandwidth Barn, we are able to address the looming ICT skills shortage combined with the necessary business skills that is required to run a thriving business”, Manuel said.

The two finalists in the VeloCITI programme, Breadbin Interactive and Nclose, both secured large deals with major corporate clients, but it was Nclose who walked away with the winning title and prize. “The value and input we have received from Cape Venture Partners, PeerPower and CITI has been tremendous. We have seen a marked improvement in the effectiveness of our daily tasks, the way we handle ourselves and our outlook on the future. The lessons we have learnt have assisted in creating strong foundations as well as giving us the tools necessary to sustain the growth we are currently experiencing”, said Stephen Osler form Nclose.

The VIP Graduate programme focuses on closing the existing gap between final year ICT students and entering the workspace as a marketable individual. A maximum number of 12 candidates participated in this year’s programme that consisted of ten modules. The two IT graduate winners were Wayne Neethling and Ncumisa Ndungane. “Still being in college, I know nothing really about the working environment. This programme trained me in basic corporate necessities – like where to start, how to act in a working environment and how to behave in an interview. Winning this programme means that I am on the right track and that motivates me to keep on going”, Ndungane said.

A further 12 companies participated and completed the the My Business Group programme. This six month programme creates an add-on opportunity for VeloCITI graduates or anyone who is already in the IT business sector to come together and to grow their strategic thinking process, supply ideas to their businesses and to share experience and information in a group. This creates a sense of belonging amongst entrepreneurs and makes them feel less isolated.

“We are really pleased with the growth and competence of this year’s graduates. With the continued private sector and provincial government support, CITI and the Bandwidth Barn will definitely continue to invest in the development of the local ICT sector as the demand for specialised and skilled individuals are expected to increase even further over the next few years”, Manuel said.

About the Cape IT Initiative:
The Cape IT Initiative (CITI) is a networking and cluster development agency that brings together people, ideas and capital to grow the Western Cape, South Africa’s ICT sector. CITI’s goal is to promote Cape Town as a global IT hub and gateway into Africa, thus facilitating the creation of jobs and prosperity through IT. In union with its subsidiary, The Bandwidth Barn, an IT incubator and business accelerator in the Western Cape, opportunities are created for great successes.

Contact details:
Tamzin Martin
Project Manager
Tel: 021 409 7000

Coast2Coast

I had a meeting with the guys from Coast2Coast this evening. They are an up and coming private equity firm which is actively seeking investments in South African Fast Moving Consumable Goods (FMCG) sector.

The company is looking for established businesses - preferably with a 10 to 15 year operating history and strong brands to take majority equity stakes in the business.

For further information please contact Cris Dillon or Gary Shayne on 021 701 2232 or visit www.coast2coast.co.za