Month: August 2021

As a business owner, ever sat back and thought are my business relationships as good as I think they are?

Relationships are important in life. They make us feel safe and help us deal with stress. Relationships aren’t only important in your personal life, though. As a business owner, professional relationships are the lifeblood of your business. New customers, retaining current customers and managing your reputation are just some of the benefits of relationship building.

In this article, we look at the importance of building good relationships as an entrepreneur or small business owner, and not falling into the trap of thinking the service or product that you have to sell is solely what will lead to your success.

Time Spent Connecting Is Time Well Spent

Whether you’re a new small business owner or a seasoned pro, you can never put enough time towards building and sustaining a network of engaged contacts that you can call on. 

A simple “sho skhokho, ugrand?” goes a long way and time spent networking will be valuable to your business. There are numerous platforms for this such as Linkedin, Facebook Groups and private forums to mention a few.   

Customer Relationship Management

This seems logical but first and foremost, you should be building relationships with customers. 

Customers enjoy having a seemingly personal relationship with a business. They will probably also be more likely to talk to you if they have a problem, rather than telling everyone they know (or turning to HelloPeter with a one-star review) if they have an experience they perceive as negative.

On average, most of a company’s business comes from existing customers and repeat customers are extremely profitable. How can you keep those customers? Build a relationship with them! The quickest way to lose customers is through the failure to cultivate and nurture relationships with customers. 

The most effective way to build a relationship with a customer: talk to them and ask for feedback.

 Employees Also Need Love

They say “to win in the marketplace, you’ve got to first win in the workplace” 

There is no single formula to achieve this (you can find systems that work for you) but basic steps include:

Welcome employee input – listen to their ideas let them know you value their feedback. 

Protect them – A trait of successful leadership is that you protect your team. If you do this, they’ll feel comfortable coming to you with problems rather than leaving issues unresolved (or leaving the business altogether).

Open communication – a free-flowing and non-judgemental line of communication encourages employees to raise issues.

Benefits:

Employee retention & engagement – employees who feel engaged at work are less likely to look for new employment. Lower turnover in staff saves you money and creates a productive work environment.

Relationships are a vital piece to your business and they will open countless doors along with new opportunities if you manage them the right way. However, It’s not all about the benefits – sometimes your business relationships won’t turn a profit or bring in foot traffic. The trick is in finding the value in the different relationships and taking the time to genuinely invest in them. 

Quick question: Is your business registered? It seems like a strange question, but we receive plenty of enquiries for funding from entrepreneurs who have not registered their businesses.

Before we get into the how, let’s look at the why. 

Why should I register my company? 

Here are a few advantages to registering your business in South Africa:

• The company receives official CIPC certification
• Business name protection
• Gain credibility and trust
• Protect your intellectual property
• Tax Incentives
• Become eligible for governmental assistance

What types of companies can register? 

You can choose to register your company as one of the following:

1. Non-profit companies: A company incorporated for public benefit or other object relating to one or more cultural or social activities, or communal or group interests.

2. Profit companies: A business/organisation whose primary goal is making money, this includes anything from retail stores to restaurants to insurance companies to real estate companies.

3. Personal liability companies: Company directors and past directors are jointly liable for any debts and liabilities arising during their periods in office. The company name ends with the word ‘incorporated’.

4. Public companies: A public company is one that has issued securities through an initial public offering (IPO) and is traded on at least one stock exchange. It has more than 50 shareholders and its shares are offered to the public.

5. Private companies: These are similar to what was previously known as close corporations. Some of the changes made to private companies include fewer disclosure and transparency requirements, no longer being limited to 50 shareholders, and with a board that must comprise at least one director. The name of a private company must end with the expression ‘Proprietary Limited’ or ‘(Pty) Ltd’.

Where do I register my company?  

1. You can register your company online on the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) website.

2. You can also register your company via Nedbank and First National Bank

How long does it take to register a company?

A name reservation takes between seven to 21 days. A company certificate can be registered within three to five days afterwards, depending on whether you have submitted your documents on time and the workload of the registrar’s office.

Can I register a company if I have been blacklisted?

Yes.

Can foreigners register a company in South Africa?

Yes. You will need to provide a valid passport copy or RSA ID document and have a residential address in South Africa.

Am I allowed to register a company without a company name?

Yes. According to the CIPC, in terms of the Companies Act, 2008, a company may be registered with or without a company name. A company that is registered without a reserved name will still get a registration number, this will automatically become the company’s name.

Should I register my company for tax?

Yes. Every new business established is required to register with your local SARS office to obtain an income tax reference number. Registration must be done within 60 days after starting operations by completing an IT77 form, available at your local SARS office or from the SARS website.

How much does it cost?

The registration cost of a private company is R125

If you want the company to have a name, then the minimum cost is R175. That is the CIPC fee of R50 for reserving the name and R125 for registration of a company. If you don’t register a name, you’ll end up with a company called something like K2020/001234/07

Each name reservation application costs R50

The process of registering your business is really simple and advantageous – don’t delay, begin this process and let us look forward to funding your purchase orders.

HAVE YOU HEARD? The People’s Stokvel is now a Co-operative Financial Institution registered with the Prudential Authority and can offer savings and credit to members only.

Ok, you might be asking, what is The People’s Stokvel (TPS)? What is its purpose and how does one get involved?

Simply, we are building a bank R100 at a time. The People’s Stokvel is a call to action for all of us to invest in small black-owned businesses. There is a joining fee of R1600 and we all contribute R100 a month thereafter. The contributions will then be used to fund purchase orders through The People’s Fundat a fee starting at 6% of purchase order value. Because a CFI can only lend money out to its members, entrepreneurs seeking purchase order funding through The People’s Fund, are required to join The People’s Stokvel.

Now that we know what it is, let’s dive into the background of TPS, where it stands today and how you can get involved.

A LOOK BACK

The People’s Stokvel was initially started in November of 2017 as The Brownsense Stokvel with the main objective of funding return yielding assets for black-owned businesses. 

In line with the vision of one day becoming a commercial bank, the board chose to have the stokvel function in the manner a CFI would, this was done in preparation for the inevitable registration of our CFI. 

TPS: AS THINGS STAND

As mentioned earlier, The People’s Stokvel is now a Co-operative Financial Institution (CFI); this application to register was lodged in September 2018. In short, a CFI is an institution that can take deposits and offer credit to its members only.

A VIEW OF THE FUTURE

The end goal is to become a commercial bank, this is a fully-fledged bank owned by shareholders and thereby governed and registered with the reserve bank. 

WHAT MAKES THE PEOPLE’S STOKVEL UNIQUE?

TPS will be owned equally by its shareholders. Stop and think about that for a second. No one person will own a larger stake than another. This is deliberate on the part of the founders and will shift how the financial landscape.

HOW TO APPLY

In the age of digital, our 100% Black Owned stokvel is managed on Stokfella – a mobile Financial Services Provider regulated by the Financial Services Board (FSB Number: 48812 ). All purchases of the Assets for The People’s Fund; statements of balance, deposits into the stokvel, and administration are done through the app. 

NB, It’s very easy to join: 

1. Go to Google Play or iStore
2. Download the Stockvella app
3. Once inside the app, click on the blue plus button, select ‘Join Group’
4. Search for ‘The People’s Stokvel’

For any additional questions or queries, please see the following:

Frequently Asked Questions – https://peoplestokvel.co.za/faqs/

TPS Constitution – https://peoplestokvel.co.za/constitution/

CFI Prospectus – https://peoplestokvel.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/The-Peoples-CFI-Prospectus-compressed.pdf

We invite you to come build a bank with us ngeKlipa Jo! 

The question for many businesses is often: why is it so difficult to get work with government?  

You might have been looking to conduct business with government and have seen varying levels of success so far: this could be due to the fact you are not registered on the CSD. Yes, we acknowledge it is fair to have some level of scepticism when it comes to government and the tender process however, registration on the CSD is the starting point to hopefully securing fruitful partnerships with state organs.

What is the CSD?

The Central Supplier Database (CSD) is simply a database of organisations, institutions, and individuals who wish to provide goods and services to government. 

This initiative of the National Treasury was started back in 2016 to enable organs of state to have a consolidated database of accurate, up-to-date, complete, and verified supplier information. This supplier information is then verified with institutions such as the South African Revenue Service and the Department of Home Affairs etc. 

Now that is the history of CSD, but the more pertinent questions are: is this relevant to my business? What does the registration process entail?

Is this relevant to my business?

The easy and short answer to this question is that it depends on the nature of your business. Are you interested in seeking work opportunities with government?

Prospective suppliers interested in pursuing opportunities within the South African government (national, provincial, or local) need to register on the CSD before they will be considered. This registration acts as an indicator of interest from the supplier to do business with the South African government.

What does the registration process entail?

The actual registration process is a quick and painless online exercise. All prospective suppliers will be required to complete the required information on the CSD website and must ensure it is complete, accurate, and comprehensive.

For registration, a supplier will require the following:

• A valid cell phone number and email account
• Supplier identification and industry classification information
• Supplier contact information e.g. preferred contact name, telephone number etc
• Supplier address information
• Bank account information
• Supplier tax information if relevant
• Directors/Members information
• Commodities the supplier can provide
• Accreditations the supplier is associated with e.g. SETA, SANAS etc. if relevant

The process from here is as follows:

Step 1: Create yourself as a CSD user

• Register your basic information on CSD Register

Step 2: Complete supplier details

• Log in on CSD Login and complete the identification tab

The registration is complete and successful once you are assigned a Supplier number and a 36-digit Unique Registration Reference Number.

To cap this all off, the CSD is not more “red tape” that prevents you from doing work with government, it is a system that ensures that you are fairly considered for opportunities – you just never know what business will flow your way because of the registration.