Two Western Cape black-owned IT companies, Shocked Technology Solutions and Mokoodi Technologies, have merged, saying this gives them the critical mass to be fully-fledged SAP service providers.
The new entity, SMC Enterprises, will now have more than the minimum requirement of 20 full-time employed certified SAP consultants in its 45-member workforce, making it one of the few black-owned South African service partners. The company came into effect from 1 March after negotiations were initiated in September.
"Our vision is to build a black-owned IT services powerhouse," says Allie Khan, SMC Enterprises MD. "This merger is the first step in showing that we are serious about our goal."
He says the merger brings together two complementary skills sets, as Shocked Technology Solutions was a Microsoft/SAP systems integrator and Mokoodi Technologies a SAP consultancy.
"Organic growth was simply taking too long to reach the required capacity to service corporate and public sector customers," says Farouk Adamson, director of SMC Enterprises (previously MD of Mokoodi).
Mapung Nxumalo, COO of SAP Africa, says the merger allows two small and medium enterprises to bridge the gap and become a more valuable partner to SAP. He adds that it shows that black empowerment companies can move closer to participating in the mainstream of the IT market by growing their size and stability.
Khan says one of the first priorities will be to consolidate the merger and then the company will focus on expanding its market presence in the Gauteng area.
SMC Enterprises` customers include the City of Cape Town, Accenture, EDS, Engen, Chevron and Old Mutual. It also does custom development for system integration for Vodacom.
Khan says SMC Enterprises will offer services in the SAP enterprise and mid-tier markets as well as system integration services encompassing bespoke development and Web solutions.
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