SAICA Enterprise Development successfully concludes another Flagship Coaching Programme.

Another significant moment to celebrate entrepreneurs who are resilient and know what it takes to achieve a milestone. The SAICA Enterprise Development (SAICA ED) five Flagship Programme, Cohort five, ran for a period of 8 months and witnessed 18 entrepreneurs successfully graduate.

This was a virtual flagship programme that saw dedicated individuals who went out of their way to attend and overcome the usual barriers of internet activity challenges during loadshedding times. Apart from being entrepreneurs that needed to make a living and a profit from an extremely competitive environment and sluggish economy, their commitment demonstrates the value of the SAICA ED Flagship Programme. The intention with the programme is for SMMEs to become financially Savvy, for them to be able to understand their business numbers and distinguish between business and personal finances, and to implement robust financial management structures in their businesses. This objective has been fulfilled as the SMMEs now know how to put financial management processes in place and can recognise their income.

Through the 8-month intervention that the SMMEs experienced with their volunteer finance coaches, four new jobs were created, the average revenue growth of the SMMEs increased by 19%, and an average net profit margin growth of 22% was experienced across the 18 SMMEs.

Highlights from the SAICA ED flagship programme include Masamkele Thandolwetu Maqavana, CEO of Million Benefits Pty Ltd/ta Kasi Digi Tech Studio, who won the special award for the entrepreneur that had the highest increase in their net profit. Lufuno Rasoesoe, Founder of Lajoya Holdings won the most jobs created, and LeRaw Home and Crafts was also recognised for the highest average revenue growth after the 8-month period of the Flagship programme.

Encouraging comments were mentioned by the other entrepreneur graduates, such as Tidimalo Nkosi founder of Melokuhle Holdings - "The mentoring sessions I had with my mentor helped me to understand and be conscious of my spending. I also realised the importance of knowing exactly where our money is going and how we can seek ways to decrease the expenses.”

“I do not think there is a better programme out there than this one. There was always clear line of communication, and it was excellently executed” said Marshall Makombe, volunteer KPMG coach.

?“As we conclude the programme, the SMMES and Coaches were thrilled to be a part of this programme. The SMMES have gained a vast amount of knowledge from their coaches and the various workshops we hosted. The coaches have mentioned that working on a volunteer basis was incredibly fulfilling work and they learned a great deal from their mentees” says Programme Manager, Neelam Diah.

Congratulations to our 18 SMMEs who successfully graduated from our Enterprise Development Coaching Flagship Programme and a special thank you to all our volunteer coaches for investing their time to coach our SMMEs.

SAICA Enterprise Development is an entity of SAICA (South African Institute of Charted Accountants) and houses strategic Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) programmes and customised projects to grow South Africa's entrepreneurial sector through advancing the sustainable growth of small Black-owned businesses.

We offer Financial Excellence to entrepreneurs through the Chartered Accountancy profession and contribute to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal that talks to Creating Decent Work and Economic Growth. The SAICA ED Flagship programme is specifically a virtual programme in which volunteer coaches from financial backgrounds and expertise gave of their time to the development and upliftment of SMMEs across the various provinces in South Africa in their respective industries.