Phumlani Ngubane owner of Ushanela Trading Enterprise visited the Business Support Centre (BSC) to ask for advice on how to setup his own business. The BSC assisted him in registering his business and all the necessary statutory requirements as well as assisting him with costing of the proposal to Hulamin Limited. On 1st May 2011, Ushanela Trading Enterprise was awarded a three year cleaning contract at Hulamin Limited. The BSC approached Goscor to assist Phumlani with the machines required to clean the Hulamin plant. Wesley and Ricky of Goscor were very supportive in advising Phumlani on the machines he would require to service the contract. They also assisted him with accessing finance to finance the machines.

Startup finance is always a challenge for SMMEs and to alleviate this challenge Goscor assisted him with Chemicals for the first month which he will pay over the next 3 months. Wesley has also suggested that Phumlani should substitute the buckets with a smaller walk behind machine which will access the smaller areas within the plant and has advised him on efficient chemical usage. Phumlani, who comes from a safety background also made a suggestion to insert a light on the machine to serve as a safety device. Goscor has since inserted a 1.5 m light on the machine as this alerts everyone that there are cleaners in the area.

Goscor has also agreed to run a workshop at no charge for all the cleaners on the BSC database. This workshop will assist the cleaning contractors to work more efficiently and therefore save time and money on their contracts and thus grow their enterprises.  This will be Goscor’s Enterprise Development and we at the BSC hope that this is the beginning of a long and lasting relationship to further Enterprise Development within the cleaning sector. As Enterprise Development is the BSCs core function, by linking small contractors to large corporate ensuring the corporate receives recognition for their ED and preferential procurement points.

Phumlani has just completed his first month as an Employer and is continuously working to improve the efficiency of the business by implementing shifts as well as job rotation.

Goscor and the BSC will continue to support Phumlani to ensure Ushanela grows into a sustainable business with more contracts.