22 May 2008

Growthpoint announces an innovative first for enterprise development in South Africa’s listed property industry

All too often, small businesses and entrepreneurs strike out on their own when establishing their companies. Insufficient training, a lack of knowledge and little support all present sometimes insurmountable hurdles.

All that is about to change for entrepreneurs selected to enter a multi-faceted new enterprise development program announced today by leading listed property fund Growthpoint Properties Limited.

Called The Property Point, the initiative aims to boost small business serving SA’s listed property sector by giving them a toehold in a highly competitive marketplace.

“The Property Point is all about training and supporting entrepreneurs who will develop their enterprises into fully independent companies that are able to compete effectively in the open marketplace,” says Growthpoint Properties Limited CEO Norbert Sasse.

Growthpoint is the largest JSE-listed property company in South Africa with a market capitalisation of more than R15.5 billion. It currently owns some R24 billion of quality properties in prime locations with its diversified property portfolio including 420 properties country-wide.

This hands-on property owner undertakes the asset management and property management of its premium portfolio of buildings. During its last financial year Growthpoint spent in the region of R920 million on the procurement of the equipment, services and skills required to run its immense portfolio or properties.

The program, which will leverage on the knowledge and resources of groundbreaking entrepreneurial centre network The Business Place, will sponsor selected micro and small businesses through skills training and personal development, and then support them by ensuring tendering opportunities within Growthpoint and its service-providers.

“An added support will be ongoing interaction with property managers and procurement specialists in the company to assist with tenders and proposals – even once clients have completed their tailored program,” he says.

Although there are currently no specific enterprise development projects of this kind in the listed property sector, Sasse believes the industry offers a range of entrepreneurial opportunities for small business.

“Entrepreneurs frequently opt for businesses like security and cleaning -- both key services in property -- because the barriers to entry are relatively low,” explains Shawn Theunissen of The Business Place. “But overcoming the barriers to sustainable success is a different consideration entirely and those barriers are what The Property Point aims to break down.”

After extensive consultation and research, Growthpoint in conjunction with The Business Place -- which serves as a delivery platform for initiatives which work towards the common goal of developing entrepreneurs, such as The Property Point -- identified a phased plan to be implemented at The Property Point.

The first phase is the selection process, which pinpoints candidates for disciplines in the property sector. The next is the development phase, which incorporates skills training, mentoring and apprenticeships. The final phases include accreditation of the candidate and finally sign-off by Growthpoint itself.

The first program has kicked off with a focus on the security sector and the first crop of candidates has already been selected.

“The principle is: you don’t have to do it on your own – there’s a whole industry full of wisdom here to help you,” adds Sasse.

And supporting this attitude is security mentor companies iMvula Quality Protection and Stallion Security, which have already made a significant contribution to The Property Point in this role.

“Stallion Security has been involved in coaching and mentoring PDI's in establishing and growing security companies since the mid 1990's. While frustrating at times it has also been extremely rewarding to see actual growth and prosperity. We are extremely privileged to be involved with Growthpoint and their development programme and look forward to continuing this long into the future” says Sim De Wet, Stallion Security.

“As an empowerment organization, it is privileged to participate in The Property Point by assisting with, and developing both the management as well as system-based processes for their candidates,” says Angie Avis, Joint CEO of iMvula. Avis notes that the company’s commitment to creating a legacy of sharing is underpinned by its view that security services providers as a whole would benefit by linking hands in the interests of delivering more focused, value adding, client focused risk mitigation security solutions. “Sharing knowledge is king.”

Enterprise development is an innovative approach that accounts for 15 points on the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) scorecard and is identified in the new BBBEE codes.

It’s just one aspect of Growthpoint’s Corporate Social Investment program which outlines clear targets for preferential procurement from black suppliers, the implementation of environmentally-conscious green building principles, and sustainable business practices.

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