Eskom suppliers gain vital business skills through academy

A group of suppliers recently graduated from the pioneering Eskom Contractor Academy at Eskom’s Academy of Learning in Midrand.

The graduates, a total of 58 small business owners, marked another year of reinforcing Eskom’s commitment to skills development, job creation and poverty alleviation.

The training programme, which runs over eight months, is offered exclusively to contractors and suppliers wishing to be registered on Eskom’s database and to boost their skills in project and financial management, entrepreneurship, legislation and technical acumen, thereby equipping them to effectively respond to tenders.

Eskom group chief executive, Brian Molefe said the development and support of small and medium enterprises are key to economic growth in South Africa, and Eskom will continue to make a meaningful contribution to, and within, the sector.

Molefe stated, “It is a well-known fact that many small businesses fail within a short period of being established. This is owing to various factors, among which is a lack of basic business skills for the owners. Through the contractor academy, we aim to encourage entrepreneurship and to empower our local small business owners.”

Molefe said that as one of the Eskom Development Foundation’s flagship programmes, the academy forms an integral part of the organisation’s commitment to enhancing the quality of life for as many South Africans as possible. By equipping small and emerging business people with the necessary skills required to build sustainable businesses, Eskom believes that the country can start addressing some of its socio-economic challenges.

By combining both practical and theoretical course work, the academy empowers contractors to successfully negotiate lucrative contracts. The entrepreneurs emerge from the course equipped with the financial, legislative, management, leadership, safety, health and technical skills to grow their businesses.

Top achiever in his Mpumalanga class, and the country as a whole, 24-year-old Sebaraboyi Karabo Malele who works in telecoms for Regro Technology in Centurion, said the best part of the course was learning from the facilitators and his peers.

“The course has been great in a sense that I can apply new knowledge and skills that I have learnt to better manage my business. There was theoretical work and practical work. For example, they showed us how to do financial statements, safety files and wellness programmes, among other things,” said Malele.

University of Limpopo, vice chancellor Nehemiah Mahlo Mokgalong said the aim of the programme is to empower and upskill entrepreneurs, and encouraged more women to get involved.

Today 53 percent of the graduates were women and 47 percent were young business owners. Mokgalong explained, “We try, through the selection process, to make sure we have more women so that we empower them. We have seen through the courses through the years that women often do better and turn out to be better business people.”