15 Apr 2011: Local Crafters Impress US Buyers
saibl hosted two US craft buyers in the past week - Nicole Hagerman-Miller, Project Manager for the Montana World Trade Centre and Angela Ramirez, Director of Worldstock, a division of Overstock.com. The aim of the visit was to consult with local crafters and provide advice on market trends and opportunities in the US, product development and design, the establishment of distribution channels, price negotiating (leveraging financing and terms to benefit buyer/seller), as well as marketing and promotion. The programme included visits to saibl clients’ premises and meetings with small groups of crafters who displayed their own products. The activities of the week culminated in a workshop in Cape Town attended by fifteen crafters and organized in conjunction with the Cape Craft and Design Institute (CCDI), a member organization responsible for the development and promotion of the craft sector in the Western Cape.
The buyers were impressed by the variety of high quality products made by South African crafters and bought some samples with the promise of placing bigger orders in future. saibl clients Imiso Ceramics, Ilulwane Craft / Zenzulu, Artists of Africa, Homepower / Kunye, and Le2 Designs were some of the companies that stood out as having suitable products for the US market.
(Picture: from left to right: Angela Raminez - Overstock Merchandising Manager, Bongi Mbili - SAIBL Trade Team, Vuyisile Mshudulu- CCDI, Nicole Hagerman-Mille r- Consultant and Buyer, Haben Berhe - SAIBL Washington office.)
18 Mar 2011: SAIBL Training on Incoterms 2010
A training workshop was held on 17 March in Woodmead for saibl’s Gauteng-based exporting clients. The workshop was attended by 17 saibl clients that are already involved in export/import. The training provided participants with an understanding of the changes in Incoterms 2010 from those of 2000 and how these changes affect their business. The clients displayed much interest in the subject and were able to ask questions and obtain advise on the best Incoterms to use for their individual trade activities. The saibl trade team is planning to conduct similar training sessions in other main centres around South Africa.
18 Mar 2011: saibl Clients at the Technical Women In Business Awards Finals
SAIBL clients Amelia Ramphadi of Amelia Women Project and Sharon Mulraj of Quadrant Engineering were amongst seven finalists invited by the Department of Trade and Industry to a gala dinner for the Technical Women In Business Awards (TWIB 2010/11) . Both were awarded certificates at the awards ceremony.
Amelia Women Project is a Johannesburg-based closed corporation that provides commercial cleaning services to schools, municipalities and private companies. In 2010, this business won second prize in the DTI’s annual technology awards.
Quadrant Engineering in Durban is a 100% black-owned company specializing in precision engineering and the manufacturing of engineering components to required drawings or specifications, as well as the servicing and repair of cooling towers. The company currently employs fifteen people and has a turnover of R5 million. SAIBL assisted the company with training towards ISO 9001:2000 certification.
09 Mar 2011: Corporate South Africa Commits to Supplier Diversity
Media Statement: The South African Supplier Diversity Council (SASDC) is now open for business. This demonstrates a clear commitment by Corporate South Africa to adopt supplier diversity as a core business support strategy.
Following the registration of the SASDC as a Section 21 company on 10 January 2011, the Council’s Board of Directors met for the first time on Friday, 11 February 2011. Matthew Govender, Managing Director of Barloworld Siyakhula, was appointed to serve as Interim Chairman of the Board of Directors.
04 Mar 2011: SASDC Presentation to the Presidential BB-BEE Advisory Committee
Matthew Govender, Interim Chairperson of SASDC, and John James, Chief of Party of saibl, made a presentation to the Procurement, Enterprise Development, Access to Finance, and Socio-Economic Development Sub-Committee of the President's BB-BEE Advisory Committee on 24 February. The presentation was well received with the Chairperson of the Committee remarking that it had given her Committee an additional dimension and input into its work of improving the environment for sustainable transformation.
She also commented on the clarity and well thought out way in which the SASDC initiative had been conceived and presented. She requested that the SASDC keep in touch and submit any further information and evidence that would attest to the milestones and results it has achieved.
This was a unique opportunity to communicate with key policy makers and to locate the SASDC appropriately in the national agenda and debate on sustainable transformation. Thanks must go to Dr Claudia Manning, MD of ECIAfrica who facilitated the invitation.
24 Feb 2011: Inaugural meeting of the SASDC Board
The South African Supplier Diversity Council's Board of Directors held is inaugural meeting on 11 February 2011 following the official registration of the Council in January. The meeting took place immediately after the final meeting of the Steering Committee and a key item on the agenda was to receive the handover report from the Steering Committee. The Board elected Barloworld’s Mr Matthew Govender as the SASDC’s Interim Chairman for six months.
The Board wants to develop criteria for selection of the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson emphasising attributes such as membership of the Institute of Directors, ability to connect and be influential at high levels in the private and public, as well as passion and commitment to supplier diversity. The Board got down to business in an atmosphere of celebration of an important milestone and also the realisation that there was no time to lose in driving membership, delivering services to members and fast tracking certification of black suppliers as key pillars for success. Discussions on strengthening governance and support systems were high on the agenda. The Board has formed Committees and assigned various Directors to chair them. The Board includes the following members:
• Brendan Freddy Raju, Cummins South Africa (Pty) Ltd
• Matthew Govender (Interim Chairman), Barloworld Limited
• Indrassen Naidoo, FirstRand
• Brian Minnaar, De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited
• Karen Van Vuuren, ABSA Bank Limited
• Savvas Pouroullis, Sasol Limited
• Meshern Govender, Standard Bank
11 Feb 2011: saibl holds strategic planning workshop
saibl this week held a two-day strategic planning workshop for all staff at the Holiday Inn Sandton, Rivonia Road. The theme of the workshop was Account, Achieve, Succeed. The focus of the workshop was on the new South African Supplier Diversity Council and the alignment of saibl’s goals and objectives with the aim to promoting and developing supplier diversity. The workshop also served to introduce new staff members to the programme. The opening session was attended by Dr Claudia Manning, Managing Director of ECIAfrica and Leslie Marbury from USAID, whilst the workshop was facilitated by Mr Golden Mahove, Programme Manager with the Business Trust.
In addition to providing background on the SASDC and the way forward, staff discussions were led around issues regarding supplier competitiveness, saibl manual revisions and process entrenchment, the effective utilization of the Picking Sound Companies and Company Diagnostics Tools, the planned process of certification of black suppliers to the SASDC, the establishment of a Management Information System and knowledge sharing mechanism for the SASDC, the effective utilization of business service providers, as well as the identification of opportunities for matchmaking and linkages.
The workshop achieved substantial consensus on the priority focus areas for saibl during the extension of the programme and the prominent role it had to play in the promotion of supplier diversity.
04 Feb 2011: saibl Discusses Supplier Development with the Western Cape Government
saibl’s Chief of Party and the Cape Town saibl team last week met with the Chief Director, Integrated Economic Development Services of the Department of Economic Development and Tourism in the Western Cape to discuss areas of cooperation in promoting business linkages and supplier development in the province. The meeting agreed that SAIBL and the Department would collaborate to promote and facilitate the recruitment of Western Cape based corporations to join the South African Supplier Diversity Council (SASDC). saibl will nowpresent a proposal and plan of action to the Department by the end of February.
04 Feb 2011: BBSDP Workshop for Network Facilitators
SAIBL facilitated a Black Business Supplier Development Programme (BBSDP) workshop which was attended by 21 Network Facilitators. The aim of the workshop was to provide the Network Facilitators with insights into the criteria that are used by financiers to fund the CAPEX applications that they will floating to funders on behalf of their clients. The Department of Trade and Industry also used the workshop as a feedback platform to the Network Facilitators on the state of progress of the programme as well as to commit to the implementation milestones for the next three months.
The Network Facilitators expressed satisfaction on the outcomes of the workshop and requested that a similar workshop involving other financiers should be organised in future. They also requested that such a workshop should equip them with training on the different funding instruments available in the market.
24 Jan 2011: SASDC Officially Registered
After a lengthy and anxious waiting period, the attorneys appointed to register the South African Supplier Diversity Council (SASDC) as a Section 21 company provided official notification that the formal process with CIPRO was completed on 10 January 2011. The SASDC Steercom Executive Committee held its first meeting for the year on Thursday, 20 January 2011. The two key issues addressed were the finalizing of the Steering Committee Hand-Over Report to the incoming SASDC Board of Directors, and the mechanisms and preparatory work that need to be done for ensuring a smooth transition. The Exco was also updated on operational activities and planned events for 2011.24 Jan 2011: SAIBL and Barloworld-Equipment Empower Black Suppliers
On 20 January 2011 saibl and Barloworld-Equipment (BWE) held a meeting for the purpose of discussing a new co-operative agreement that will aim to increase BWE's number of black owned suppliers (including black women owned suppliers) and increase their annual procurement spend. saibl will honor this agreement by conducting Picking Sound Company evaluations, Company Diagnostics (CD) and interventions arising from the CD findings. Once these suppliers have been assessed it will allow them to be awarded work from BWE which will in turn increase the spend to black suppliers.
11 Jan 2011: usaid Interview with Amelia Women Project entrepeneur
US Embassy: Listen to Amelia Ramphadi, an ambitious young entrepreneur and founder of the Amelia Women Project, a cleaning supplies and cosmetics business in Alexandra, Gauteng province. Ms. Ramphadi began work as a cleaner of industrial offices but pursued her dream of running her own business. Growing up in rural South Africa, Ms. Ramphadi said she wanted to be in a position to help people around her by offering jobs. She now employs 72 people. Her business is rapidly expanding, and the Amelia Women Project recently garnered an award from South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry.
The Amelia Women Project receives support from USAID’s South African International Business Linkages Project (SAIBL) Before the holidays, she spoke with USAID’s Acting Africa Chief, Sharon Cromer, and Activity Manager Leslie Marbury.
- Interview part 1 (wmv)
- Interview part 2 (wmv)
