The 9th of March was a big day for Veena Pather and her team at the Enterprise Connection (EC) Tshwane offices. The official opening of the office signifies a milestone for her and other young specialists who are making their future within the IT industry. Situated in the hub of Centurion`s business district, the office is already hugely successful, thanks to Pather`s skills and drive and her team`s expertise.
In October 2005, Paul Moses, Enterprise Connection Group CEO, and his team launched a BEE office concept, with the first branch in Tshwane. The idea behind the project is to provide a complete package including products, systems, customers and capital - everything required to begin in business.
Enterprise Connection recognised the fact that there are passionate young black people who want to own and be part of the IT business, but achieving it can be virtually impossible. So what better way to express the whole concept of entrepreneurship than by empowering young people through training while providing them with a means to start their own IT business. Hope is the key currency in most empowerment situations. Enterprise Connection wants to show people that they can succeed if they have the passion and the desire, and that there are people out there who can enable them to do so.
Moses says what most often happens with these young would-be entrepreneurs is that they come to Gauteng to work for a couple of years, and then maybe go back to the provinces and start something up there. "We want to go into the provinces and find these people. We don`t want people with existing businesses but are looking for fresh faces. It`s not about having a commercial edge. Although that`s valuable, we believe we have the means to empower people on a broader perspective and that ability comes with a responsibility."
The Tshwane office is serving as a model for future expansion. Lessons learnt from this enterprise will form the blueprint going forward. Pather, a highly qualified IT and Microsoft Licensing and Sales Specialist, is the Executive Director. She was a Business Developer with EC before being offered the challenge of part-owning the first office. She firmly believes in providing a personal service to the clients. Pather has been so successful in securing contracts that the office needed no secondary financing. It was self-sufficient within the first four months, growing to a staff complement of over 10 people.
The Department of Justice, SARS, Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, and Department of Land Affairs as well as many other blue chip companies have chosen the EC Tshwane solutions offerings and service excellence. Apart from licensing and contract management, Enterprise Connection Tshwane also offers software asset management, infrastructure services on the Microsoft and HP platform, a finance rental option as well as a range of services in the Microsoft business solutions space, including ERP, CRM, business intelligence, portal development and custom development.
Share
Editorial contacts