Struggling to decide on where and how to spend your annual enterprise development budget as your financial year-end approaches? Consider partnering with Black Umbrellas.
Many companies have December financial year ends, and as this 2018 deadline approaches, financial directors and CFOs will often struggle to find a meaningful enterprise development (ED) solution if they have not already found one by now.
“This puts them at risk of not optimising their B-BBEE score, as enterprise and supplier development (ESD) amounts to approximately 40% of the scorecard,” says Nyasha Madavo, CFO of enterprise and supplier development organisation Black Umbrellas.
Fortunately, she says, there is a solution for finance executives who find themselves in this bind. Companies can contribute their ED budget – or what’s left of it – to Black Umbrellas to meet their annual targets.
“Many organisations are reactive with regards to their ED investments and tend to find themselves rushed in trying to find a solution last minute. We would like to let the industry know that they can partner with organisations like ours. Black Umbrellas has a well-established programme through which their funding will be channelled towards making a measurable impact, while also enabling them to meet their annual targets.”
Black Umbrellas has been in business since 2009, and has years of experience in developing sustainable small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In collaboration with funding partners, they develop 100% black-owned businesses, through 8 incubators across the country.
As a non-profit organisation, and a public benefit organisation, Black Umbrellas is able to provide a Section 18A certificate for any enterprise and supplier development contributions that it receives, which enables the funders to optimise the taxation aspects of their spend.
While this type of engagement will work for those approaching their 2018 financial year-end and needing a trusted ED partner in a hurry, in the longer term, Black Umbrellas can work with their funding partners to understand their value chain, provide access to black suppliers, while de-risking the process of transforming their supply chain.
Nyasha says:
“So, you could start with enterprise development this year, then work towards identifying specific businesses that can become supplier development beneficiaries next year thus aiding you to meet both your annual enterprise and supplier development targets next year, in partnership with us.”
She explains that the Black Umbrellas incubation programme is sector agnostic and has a range of businesses in various sectors, including oil and gas, mining, manufacturing, and professional services amongst others. “Our only requirements for a business to join our programme is that they must be able to demonstrate that they are likely to become sustainable within a three-year period, they must be 100% black-owned, and they must be able to pay the commitment fees as Black Umbrellas is a fee-paying program” she says.
The Black Umbrellas incubation service offering includes comprehensive training, bookkeeping, office space, IT infrastructure and business mentoring through our network of volunteer mentors. In addition to these services, we create a platform for our incubated businesses to access markets and funding when they are ready.
While the Black Umbrellas business model makes good sense for incubated organisations, funding partners and the economy at large, Nyasha says it is enormously rewarding from a personal perspective as well - especially against the backdrop of a high failure rate of black-owned businesses in South Africa.
“We are changing lives on a day-to-day basis. It’s so good to see black-owned businesses joining the program to get support with business aspects they are grappling with, and seeing them grow and emerge as meaningful participants in the economy creating much needed jobs.”
For more information, contact:
Tel: 021 447 7156
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.blackumbrellas.org
