Success Stories
Suppliers can improve your delivery
Frances Wright, who co-owns marketing and communications company Trinitas Consulting, believes one of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make in running a business is to understate the importance of the supply chain in its entirety.
“A supplier must know that if they mess up on your business it’s a whole wad of business going,” says Wright, who works [...]
Listening is an art
When Sunet Wagner, who runs Minimax, first approached private schools with the idea of organising drama and musical productions for them, she admits that she had no idea how to communicate effectively with colleagues and clients. “I didn’t know you had to listen to them,” says Wagner, who came to clients with “pre-conceived ideas” of [...]
Better bookkeeping saves money
Hiring a dedicated bookkeeper and introducing an accounting software package into her business, Enzani Technologies, has helped Landiwe Nene to manage her finance better while saving time and money. When Nene started her electrical contracting business, her basic financial skills enabled her to cope with invoicing, but the problem came when the business expanded [...]
Culture of giving
Frances Fish, managing owner of M&F Business Furniture, says setting up an empowerment company and donating to charities has helped improve her business’s reputation. “I think clients like the fact that we are so compliant,” says Fish who ran a small furniture retailer with her husband Victor for five years before deciding to team up [...]
Keeping up to date
Keeping up to date with trends and developments in his industry has helped Alan Cogill, who runs Supreme Cylinders together with Andre du Plooy, to stay ahead of the pack in servicing his print industry clients. Cogill, whose company manufactures tooling for the printing industry, says he subscribes to two local magazines that cover his [...]
Streamlined email inbox
Setting up a workflow system has helped Rob Dennison, owner of Trainiac, to spend less time glued to his desk and lead a more stress-free work life. Trainiac produces training content for large corporates. With assistance from the Productivity Pitstop, Dennison was able to streamline his email box in such a way that he is [...]
Outsmarting competitors
Martin Brown, who owns Radical Mobility, a company that manufactures all-terrain wheelchairs, says keeping up to date, with the products and prices his opposition offers, helped his business carve out a niche place in the market. In this way, Brown says, he has been able to manufacture a product that no one else in the [...]
Get staff to help growth
Managing people can be one of the most difficult things for anyone choosing to run their own business. But Elliot Mokone who owns Morena Corporate Services, a company that offers cleaning services, says drawing up employment contracts in which terms are clearly defined, using commission to incentivise staff and involving staff in making business decisions, [...]
Know where it goes wrong
Putting a quality management system in place has helped Adiel de Bruyn, owner of Sechaba Security Services, to win more contracts and to manage his business better. “You find many large companies don’t want to do business with you if you don’t have a quality management system in place,” says De Bruyn, who was able [...]
Saving with good systems
Attending to the work processes and managing people inside his business has helped Deno Makue of Amarillo Retail put in place operational systems that have saved him time and eased the hassle of running his business. “It’s basically the key to survival,” says Makue, who bought a Yankys Burgers brand. His mentor, Gavin Tonks, helped [...]