The plastic recycling sector has come a long way in South Africa with improved technology, better implementation of waste regulations, greater consumer awareness and growth in the market for recycled material. Despite these developments, there have always been plastic material streams that are difficult to recycle and therefore end up in landfill or, unfortunately, in the environment. Seeking out a solution to repurpose unrecyclable and/or difficult to recycle plastic packaging, Polyco PRO NPC, a Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) in South Africa that represents and promotes the recycling of all plastic packaging, has provided a seven-million-rand, interest free loan to the Centre for Regenerative Design & Collaboration (CRDC) who will be using the funding to purchase machinery for their plant in Cape Town that converts unrecyclable and/or difficult to recycle plastic into eco-aggregate, that is then used in the building and construction sector. CRDC has designed an innovative solution that uses commonly mismanaged plastic waste and converts it to an eco-aggregate called RESIN8. Through various initiatives and collection schemes, CRDC accepts all plastics. The production of RESIN8 therefore contributes to increased recycling rates in South Africa and creates an output product that meets the acceptable building standards and is welcomed by the construction sector. “One of the greatest challenges of the plastics and recycling sector has been finding a solution to repurpose and to reintegrate difficult to recycle plastics into the economy,” says Patricia Pillay, Chief Executive Officer at Polyco. “Our focus is to make waste a valuable resource, keeping all plastics out of the environment through investing in recycling infrastructure. The CRDC’s RESIN8 solution will divert thousands of tonnes of plastic that would have gone to landfill, or have landed up in the environment, but will now instead supply the construction sector with a high-quality eco-aggregate to be used in the production of various concrete products.” To produce RESIN8, waste plastic is first shredded and then mixed with mineral additives. The mixed material is fed through an extruder to produce RESIN8, which is then granulated into a concrete aggregate-like material. The RESIN8 granules are used as a replacement for natural aggregates in the concrete mix used in the production of multitude of concrete products. To date, RESIN8 has been used towards the construction of 700 houses in Costa Rica, and in South Africa three large scale residential buildings in Khayelitsha and about 2000-meters of roadside kerb and channels on various projects in Cape Town. This RESIN8 plant in Cape Town will be the first of its kind in Africa, and only the third plant in the world. “Our goal is to complete the construction phase before the year-end and to be fully operational from March 2023,” says Abraham Avenant, Chief Executive Officer at CRDC South Africa. “Once operational the plant will be able to process 610 tonnes of plastic waste per month into RESIN8.” To test the viability of RESIN8 as a construction aggregate, multiple concrete manufacturers partnered with CRDC’s South African team to test RESIN8 in building blocks, maxi bricks, pavers, kerbs, channels, and concrete pipes. Using RESIN8 decreases weight, increases or maintains strength, and increases the thermal properties of concrete bricks and blocks which adds additional environmental benefits. ‘The Cape Town RESIN8 plant has been designed to be scalable and we aim to increase our production to 1220 tonnes of plastic waste per month. Our ambition is to replicate the Cape Town RESIN8 plant in a further two cities before the end of 2023,” says Avenant.
2022
SMEs can overcome the triple whammy – inflation, fuel and loadshedding
Aggressive campaigns to recruit, hire, retain, and promote female talent is simply not enough. Both the private and public sector needs to commit and invest in learnerships, bursaries, skills development programmes and internships for women to help diversify their workplace. Not only is this good for business, improving productivity and innovation that in turn has a positive knock-on effect on their bottom line, but in doing so businesses can also benefit from several incentives like accessing available SETA grants and skills funding, tax rebates, as well as advancing their B-BBEE scorecard.
SME employees not saving enough for retirement
On the back of the widely known statistic that over 90% of South Africans are not in a position to retire comfortably, FNB Employee Benefits has also noted a growing trend amongst SME employees not fully understanding or saving enough for retirement. “Although up to 70% of our commercial banking employers currently don’t offer formal benefits to their staff members, the small and medium businesses that do offer these benefits are concerned at the low rate of retirement saving from their staff. Poor savings and over-indebtedness often result in several work-related challenges including poor performance and job hopping. On the positive side, employees who better manage their personal finances tend to be more satisfied, motivated, and productive,” says Elize Giese, FNB Employee Benefits CEO. “As part of broader initiatives to improve South Africans’ savings habits, SMEs too have an important role to play: Employers should consider investing in improving money management amongst their employees as part of their employee benefits offering,” adds Giese as she unpacks some of the reasons for employees’ lack of savings for retirement: Preservation when changing jobs – if people change jobs and have existing retirement savings from the previous employer, employees are urged to preserve their retirement savings. Sadly, in South Africa it is popular to cash in retirement savings when changing jobs and this is one of the reasons so few people can afford to retire. This has a double impact – you spend the money that is meant for retirement and more importantly, you lose out on the growth and compounding of the money over time. This has a much bigger impact than most people realise. Consider this example: you pay R1 000 per month into your fund and earn a net 4% real return (after costs and inflation). Over forty years this investment would grow to R1.14m. But after ten years you change jobs and decide to upgrade your car with your savings, and to start saving afresh. At that point your investment is worth R144 000. As a consequence of this decision, at retirement you will only have saved R673 000. This is 41% less than before. That means a 41% lower pension! That car upgrade actually cost you R467 000, and possibly a comfortable retirement. It’s impossible/too late to secure a financially comfortable retirement – answer is simple, the sooner the better, even contributing a small amount to retirement savings now can be very beneficial in the long run. Lack of understanding of benefits -financial literacy among the general public continues to be low, and monetary worries remain a common source of stress, absenteeism, and poor performance at work. Employers need –now more than ever– to focus on improving the financial education of their employees. They must help staff gain the confidence to improve their financial wellbeing, and the confidence to face changes, both in their personal circumstances and the wider economy, without losing their focus at work. Lastly, there’s a common misconception amongst employees that all savings are the same. One of the key reasons for this is the fact that educational material shared by SMEs does not adequately highlight the importance of understanding that not all savings are created the same. “By lumping retirement savings, fixed-term and call accounts, day-to-day savings vehicles, emergency savings, tax-free savings and even many forms of investment together under the banner of ‘savings’, a misperception has been created that all these savings vehicles are the same. The result is that many employees don’t realise that each type of savings account has a very unique purpose and requires a different mindset in order to deliver on that purpose,” concludes Giese.
Inoxico demonstrate the power of humility and dedication to business growth
Inoxico is a fintech company focused on helping businesses to optimise their trade credit profitability. It primarily works to help large companies extend credit to business customers and derive returns on working capital deployed. By using an advanced analytics platform and their unique set of business payment data, it can determine appropriate credit risk approaches quickly and accurately. Today Inoxico is at an exciting point in its growth journey. The company is steadily increasing its market share, and recently qualified for funding from FNB’s Vumela Enterprise Development Fund. But just two years ago Inoxico’s future was uncertain, as Dominique Pitot, Inoxico’s CEO, explains. “Shortly before the Covid-19 pandemic hit we had realised that we had to make a big pivot or die trying. We were marginally profitable, but we weren’t building a sustainable business. We were looking for a programme that would help us, and FNB’s Accelerator Programme came highly recommended.” The FNB Accelerator Programme The FNB Accelerator Programme is designed to enhance the ability of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with exceptional potential to scale up successfully. The programme, delivered by Edge Growth Accelerate, aims to increase the SME scale-up success rate by driving critical management behaviour changes to promote job creation and to unlock further and improved capital, talent, and support. The FNB Accelerator Programme focuses on gazelles: SMEs with significant potential for growth. They typically have a large prospective market, an innovative product, and impressive leadership. “I’ve been exposed to other programmes,” Dominique says, “And I haven’t found any that are better than this programme. The FNB Accelerator programme strikes exactly the right level of detail: it’s not too broad to be relevant, but you also don’t get bogged down in specifics. Above all, it is realistic: it is tailored to what will result in concrete improvements.” The power of best practice According to Dominique, the key to Inoxico’s ability to leverage the programme effectively was the realisation that an entrepreneur doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel. “There is often an attitude amongst entrepreneurs that because they’ve had an innovative idea in one field, they have to approach each granular aspect of running a business with the aim of reinventing it. The programme taught us the power of leveraging established good practice. If you apply the framework properly and fully you get the most out of it. Cleverness is overrated! Have the humility to admit you don’t have all the answers, do things properly, learn from the experts, and you’ll avoid many of the pitfalls you would otherwise have stumbled blindly into.” Avani Manilal, SME Development Solution Strategist at FNB Commercial agrees, saying “Dominique and the rest of the Inoxico leadership really impressed us through their discipline and commitment to implementing the programme best practices. That discipline was a huge factor that has undoubtedly counted towards their success. It also demonstrates the value of a business that can successfully leverage the technical support from a contextually relevant programme, improve the maturity of the business, and then as a result, move to the next stage of the FNB enterprise development ecosystem and become eligible for Vumela funding. Inoxico is a great example of how financial and non-financial support work together to build scalable businesses with huge potential.” The benefit of experience In addition to the nuts and bolts of the programme, the mentoring component made an enduring impression on the Inoxico leadership. “We’d had this near-failure experience,” Dominique recalls. “I was dealing with a lot of pressure, and I couldn’t fully share my situation with anyone. Having the right mentor allows you to work through big problems with someone who understands your journey. If I hadn’t had that monthly sounding board and reality check, I would have become lost in my thoughts and frustrated by things I didn’t need to focus on. Mentoring also gives you the courage to follow through on the ideas that are applicable and that have promise. The experience was valuable enough that we have kept the relationship going with the mentor post the programme.” A validation of their hard work Inoxico’s focus today is on honing its product fit and exploring new markets, and the company seems on the cusp of a very promising growth trajectory with their new platform. Dominique explains: “The hard part was getting our first customers. We achieved that last year. Now we can focus on expansion and effectively integrating our services into client environments. We’ve managed to hit some huge milestones and the feasibility of the solution has been proven, so now we just must focus on implementation. The progress we have made, and the funding we’ve received from Vumela, are fantastic validations of the hard work we’ve put into developing a scalable business.”
Shattered Glass Ceilings, Still Standing
This Women’s Month, MiWay celebrates women are leading in traditionally male-dominated sectors – and who make a big success of it too! Women have been making breaking barriers for generations, yet there are still many industries and sectors which tend to be ‘preserved’ for men. But even in those areas, exceptional women are showing that they truly can make a contribution in these industries. Take Selinah Mtilene, who runs Diamond Panelbeaters in Mabopane, near Pretoria. Selinah was a traditional woman, who believed that it was the men who needed to wear work overalls while women stayed in the kitchen. But that all changed as she shared the challenges of running a business with her husband, who operated a backyard panel-beating business. Over a period of 11 years, Selinah developed such a passion for the motor industry that she quit her office job to lead Diamond Panelbeaters in partnership with her husband. After 3 years in the venture as partner, he left the business, and Selinah now runs it on her own. Selinah found running the business tough, especially when it came to accessing finance. After her 3-year stint as a solo business owner, Selinah was forced to return to a full-time job so that she could obtain a personal loan to buy the necessary equipment. During that period, she relied on her assistant, Valencia Khoza, who ran the business while she was working. “Having a woman I could rely on, and a fixed income to steady the course, I grew in self-confidence and at the same time, my confidence in the strength of women also grew,” she says. She mentions, however, that the lack of women in the field meant there was little support from what she refers to as “a sisterhood’, commonly found in women’s social circles and family networks. “Regardless of how long or how hard the road was, I couldn’t and didn’t allow myself to lose focus,” Selinah advises. “As my biggest client account since 2019 MiWay gave me the opportunity to really spread my wings, to fly. Today, Diamond Panelbeaters still employs Valencia, but we also have 48 professionals who are employed full-time! Yes, mine is a success story against the odds, but we need more, especially the stories of women, like me, who are using their small businesses as a vehicle to create employment opportunities and, ultimately, to alleviate poverty.” Pretoria-based Gillian Grobler is another mbokodo (Nguni word for “rock”) who, by her own admission, “stumbled into telecommunications by chance”, and went on to make a success of it against all the odds. A secretary by profession, Gillian was fascinated by her fiancé’s state-of-the-art telephone he carried under his arm when he came home from work one night. He went on to tell her that one of his business contacts was hoping they would be interested in setting up a local branch selling that type of equipment. Knowing first-hand how painful it was to spend days with a phone lodged between neck and shoulder while typing, they knew there would be a market for phones with functional design, including the option of a speaker. The couple agreed, and opened their business a few months later “financed” by no more than R30 000 worth of stock from the supplier. “I never imagined that 34 years later I would still be a salary maker, not a salary taker,” Gillian says. The challenges of starting and running a business cannot be underestimated, she says. She faced the biggest one of all when her husband was given a terminal diagnosis but, as she says, the hurdles are never-ending, and “one must simply persevere”. Gillian already knew that most offices are run by secretaries and personal assistants, women, really. She leveraged this insight and her extensive sisterhood of highly competent women to achieve her business goals: connecting with office executives, mostly men, as potential clients for their new telecommunications venture. When it comes to broken glass, Mumtaz Moola is an expert, more specifically in the motor glass industry. When the founder of MyGlass approached her with an offer to join the company’s leadership team, for Mumtaz, the decision was easy. He was clear about his vision to transform his business by empowering and enabling women in a sector which is not represented by women business owners, instead only women in administrative roles. “That conversation ignited my passion to not only be a woman leader, but also to inspire more and more women to sink their teeth into the male-dominated motor glass industry,” Mumtaz remarks. She joined MyGlass in 2016 as a director and shareholder. “As an approved vendor on a panel of service providers to a major insurance company, I made it my business to learn and understand the ins and outs of this niche sector. And I had to learn fast, especially since I was committed to bringing more women into this industry.” Mumtaz believes that women need to be given the opportunity to own businesses, “but this can only be realized in an environment conducive to growth, acquisition of business and technical skills”. MyGlass currently one of Miway’s biggest woman-owned fitment centres. …