Meaningful impact seen through Financial Excellence programme in mining sector small businesses

By Kelly Pretorius, SAICA Enterprise Development

In 2021, Exxaro engaged with SAICA Enterprise Development (SAICA ED) to provide a Pilot Financial Excellence programme to 29 small business beneficiaries as part of their targeted Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) strategy. SAICA ED’s intent for this programme was to mobilize all designations of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) profession to assist Exxaro in promoting Financial Excellence in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) residing in Mpumalanga, Limpopo, and Gauteng.

Through ESD initiatives, SAICA ED drives economic transformation and job creation as part of the Learning and Development and national imperatives division of SAICA.SAICA ED, on behalf of Exxaro, closed this programme pilot cohort off in quarter 4 of last year, and applauds each of the SMEs that demonstrated determination and consistent commitment to the programme.

“This comprehensive programme aimed to enhance the ability of the small business owner to learn about and implement financial management systems and other financial measurements needed to run sustainable business operations. The programme assisted the business owners to become more robust and sustainable”, says Jill Johnson, Senior Executive at SAICA ED.

It included providing beneficiaries with monthly access to a CA(SA) Financial Coach, access to Bi-Monthly bootcamps for the entrepreneurs on financial topics, and where the entrepreneur opted to switch, access to a CA(SA) Small or Medium Accounting practice was provided to ensure their monthly management accounts, Annual sinancial statements and tax and CIPC compliance would be prepared or updated to the required standards.

High overall impact outcomes from the pilot programme

·??????All 29 beneficiaries completed the programme inclusive of a full business diagnostic, financial coaching, back-office accounting support as well as bootcamps and workshops.

·??????80% of the cohort achieved full financial compliance after the programme.

·??????a notable collective overall increase in Turnover of 285%.

·??????a notable collective overall increase in Net Profit of 137%; and

·??????66 brand new jobs were created by the SMEs during and through this programme.

Says Welile Nhlabathi, owner of Gigizela Trading Enterprises, “Thank you to Exxaro for going out of your way in making sure that you support small business not only financially, but in also supporting us with the necessary skills programmes that we need to sustain our businesses. The SAICA ED programme has made a huge difference, I am now able to do financial planning, do marketing, do tenders correctly, and have an increased ability ?to run my business in a professional manner.”

Gigizela Trading Enterprises, one of the SMEs on the programme, specialises in industrial and mining general supplies, such as mobile toilets, piping etc. Through the programme, Gigizela has managed to stabilise their revenue and purchase new assets for the business with cash. They have also developed and enhanced their HR systems and financial compliance.

Furthermore, another Exxaro cohort 1 SME shares his journey of growth, “In 2019 I decided to enrol in a short 6-months course of Financial Management for non-finance managers at GetSmarter. But only when I started with the SAICA ED programme did I really apply this knowledge learnt from that course because it then became very practical. Monthly meetings with the coach and setting up the right financial reporting systems became the levers used to apply my knowledge to a real business, my own business, so the knowledge was not textbook knowledge anymore,” comments Hlekulani Maluleke, owner of Flashing Lites.

Flashing Lites, a media production company, grew significantly over the programme and saw an 84% increase in revenue as well as secured some major contracts with both the CSIR and We Buy Cars.

The future looks bright. SAICA ED is very excited to be in the launching phase of 2 new cohorts of SMEs and thrilled to be building a stronger long-term implementation relationship with Exxaro for 2023 on-going.

Comments Annie McWalter, CEO of SAICA ED, “We endeavour to continue to provide Exxaro and its beneficiaries with the highest level of support and service delivery to assist them in strengthening their businesses as we run our new cohort programmes this year. We look forward to engaging further this year and improving on the lessons learnt from the first pilot Financial Excellence programme.”