In line with National development and shared growth imperatives, the City of Johannesburg has identified job creation and access to procurement opportunities by Start-ups, Small and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) as an essential requirement towards building an economically viable city.
Over the years, the JDA has established processes and practices to support job creation and enterprise and skills development for previously disadvantaged groups that include blacks, women, youth and people with disabilities. The impact of these processes and practices have not been measured and reported on in an inadequate way in the past. There is also a need to consolidate and extend these practices by designing and implementing a programme that will drive the achievement of empowerment objectives, and align projects and approaches towards addressing the challenges facing previously disadvantaged enterprises.
In 2013 JDA introduced an enterprise development programme to deliver a coherent programmatic approach to enterprise development; and a series of workshops, courses and coaching sessions in a strategic and targeted way to achieve effective and sustainable empowerment and economic development results.
The strategic goals for the JDA’s enterprise development programme are to:
- Develop skills and capacity within the construction industry in Johannesburg;
- Optimise the JDA’s contribution to inclusive economic growth and empowerment, and the transformation of the construction industry; and
- Establish a monitoring and reporting system to measure the impact of the JDA’s enterprise development programme.
The JDA’s Enterprise Development Programme is made up of the following components:
- Emerging contractor development for SMMEs working on JDA projects (both sub-contractors and those contracted directly by the JDA). This should include general training, and a more focused incubation component for a few selected enterprises; and
- Training on winning business for SMMEs (with a particular focus on unsuccessful bidders identified through the JDA tender process).
The enterprise development programme includes the following outputs and activities:
- Design of an emerging contractor development programme (ECDP) framework for the JDA to implement over 4 years.
- Drafting of Emerging Contractor Development guidelines for the JDA. The guidelines have been incorporated into the JDA’s operating manual.
Implementation of the EDP in a coordinated way includes at least the following activities each year:
- A workshop for representatives of SMME companies working on JDA developments that presents elements of the Emerging Contractor Development Programme.
- Two accredited training opportunities on construction skills for construction workers on JDA projects. This training should complement training that is already provided by contractors and respond to the training needs of construction workers.
- An Emerging Contractor incubator project that provides at least 5 days of advice, coaching and mentorship per year for selected SMMEs (at least 4 companies should be taken into the incubator programme for 3 years and there should be progressive performance targets that demonstrate growth over this time).
- Training on preparing tenders for public sector construction projects for representatives of companies from a JDA database of unsuccessful bidders.
Development of a monitoring and reporting system for the EDP that includes:
- A database of SMMEs contracted or sub-contracted on JDA projects;
- Assemble, verify and collate the information required to update the database each quarter for the full term of the contract;
- Analyse the impact and results of the Emerging Contractor Development Programme and write quarterly reports, and adapt these reports for various oversight committees.
- Coordinate a comprehensive and pro-active administration system to ensure that all JDA EDP participants (construction workers and SMME companies) receive formal recognition of participation (such as a JDA letter confirming training, certificates where possible, and completion of CIDB forms for registration purposes).
As a key part of JDA’s practice and approach, we will continue to seek to create jobs and economic development opportunities for small businesses through our construction programme.
The JDA’s EDP practice has been extended to the roll out of a new approach to contracting in selected developments with a managing contractor responsible for sub-contracting local SMME construction companies and ensuring skills transfer within a construction.
In a study of the Enterprise Development Programmes demonstrated that the JDA has delivered a degree of success, however there is an opportunity for JDA to raise the bar on SMME development. The study recommended that JDA consider 3 options to enhance SMME development going forward. These options are outlined in the subsections that follow. Each of the models range in the extent of benefits received, the resourcing required, and implementation complexity.