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TIA defies budget slash to disburse R371m

Admire Moyo
By Admire Moyo, ITWeb's news editor.
Johannesburg, 20 Nov 2015
TIA underwent a major organisational transformation for improved alignment to its mandate, says CEO Barlow Manilal.
TIA underwent a major organisational transformation for improved alignment to its mandate, says CEO Barlow Manilal.

The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) has disbursed R371 million for project- and programme-related funding as compared to R358 million the previous financial year.

This is despite government slashing TIA's parliamentary grant by 30% in the 2014/15 financial year. In the 2013/14 financial year, TIA received R481 million from government but the grant was cut to R338 million this year, a reduction amounting to R143 million.

TIA is an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology mandated to enable and support technological innovation across all sectors of the economy in order to deliver socio-economic benefits for SA and to enhance its global competitiveness.

Since 2010, the agency has supported more than 8 130 small and medium enterprises to accelerate technical innovation through technology development.

Past shenanigans

The agency has long been dogged by scandals relating to maladministration, incompetence, instability and job uncertainties, among others. However, it received a clean audit from the auditor-general this year. TIA's reputation also took a battering after then-CEO Simphiwe Duma and CFO Barbara Kortjass were fired for gross misconduct last year.

New CEO, Barlow Manilal, was appointed this year to turn around the agency which was undergoing a major restructuring process, including job retrenchments.

In her budget speech, science and technology minister Naledi Pandor said the agency had implemented a successful turnaround strategy and has been repositioned.

The board of TIA, which assumed office in May 2013, started its term with a focus on three overarching priorities, namely the clarification of TIA strategy, addressing the gaps in governance within the organisation, and delivering on agreed-upon objectives and performance targets.

According to TIA, the parliamentary grant reduction caused the agency to reduce costs and be on the lookout for other means to increase income. Other income increased 225% to R83 million (2013/14: R26 million).

The agency says not only did it meet the majority of its targets, but exceeded a few. Of the amount disbursed, R371 million was for project grants and R15.9 million represented loans. This represented a 4% increase for project grants.

TIA received R338 million this year, a reduction amounting to R143 million from the previous year.
TIA received R338 million this year, a reduction amounting to R143 million from the previous year.

"The board is satisfied with the performance of the organisation against the predetermined performance objectives and targets, having reached 73%," says Khungeka Njobe, chairperson of the TIA board.

To reduce administrative expenditure, the number of staff was cut from 240 to 142. The impact of the process was a reduction in staff costs from R117 million in 2013/14, to R110 million in 2014/15.

The specific contracted agreements recognised as income in 2014/15 amounted to R51 million, a reduction of 18% from the prior year's amount of R62 million, says TIA.

A total of R200 million was leveraged from other funders during the financial year, up from R65.5 million from 2012/13, and R74.4 million in 2013/14.

Doubling up

The agency says the university seed fund programmes continue to perform well, having doubled the number of projects supported from 70 in 2013/14 to 145 in 2014/15. "We expect these projects will soon feed into TIA mainstream," says Njobe.

"During the period under review, TIA continued on its path to stabilise and strengthen the leadership of the organisation, to strengthen governance and compliance, to refine and implement its strategy and to focus on performance, while ensuring there was alignment between the recently adopted strategy and the organisational structure," Njobe says.

"During the period, TIA also began initiatives to rebuild stakeholder relationships and to assume its role of enhancing thought leadership in the field of innovation," she adds.

Manilal says the organisation underwent a major organisational transformation for improved alignment to its mandate, improved organisational effectiveness and enhanced value creation.

"It is now well-positioned to continue, in an accelerated manner, with the numerous impressive projects. There are also significant process improvements to augment governance and the control environment so that the clean audit achieved in the period under review becomes the organisational standard."

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