Johannesburg, 15 Jan 2020
When it comes to job creation and sustainable employment, small businesses play a very important role. Many large, multinational companies have reached a ceiling in terms of job creation, hence the jobs bloodbath that we continue to see happening. This means small businesses have an opportunity to grow, which can lead to more jobs being created.
TechnoChange Solutions is proud to be celebrating its fifth anniversary. This milestone marks five years of service excellence and of providing quality results to customers.
TechnoChange Solutions is a certified BBBEE Level 1-compliant SME company and is 100% black-owned. Although it was founded in 2014, it was formally registered in 2015 and began trading formally in 2015.
The company was founded with the aim of enhancing and creating business value for its customers using information and communications technology (ICT). It considers itself to be an agent for business change. Its founders are highly experienced ICT experts who want to make a difference in people's lives by offering excellent service, being dedicated to the work at hand and adding value for customers.
For TechnoChange Solutions, having an excellent work ethic is crucial. As Jessica Guidobono says: “Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence.”
In addition to being a game-changer in the ICT sector, the company is adept at seeing projects being properly implemented and at advising customers about corporate strategy and electronic policy management. The company's main focus is on unified communications, project management and innovative desktop support, along with the provision of cybersecurity advisory services to some customers.
TechnoChange Solutions has 15 offices across SA to meet the demands of its fast-growing customer base.
Its exponential growth since 2015 is indicative of the opportunities that SA provides for SMEs and businesses with a global focus. Celebrating five years of success is important to the company, given the tough economic times SA is going through; a time when running a small business is difficult and risky, and the failure rate is high.
The former minister of trade and industry, Rob Davies, once acknowledged that five out of every seven small businesses in SA fail within a year. By comparison, 70% of small businesses in the United States survive for at least two years, according to the US Small Business Administration. Therefore, the fact that TechnoChange has not only survived but also thrived over the past five years should serve as inspiration for other entrepreneurs currently running SMEs, encouraging them not to give up.
Citing varying statistics, Ravi Govender, the Head of Small Enterprises at Standard Bank, says that on average, about 50% of all start-up businesses in South Africa fail within 24 months because of the inability and inexperience of their owners. This was one of the most important messages to emerge from the recent Standard Bank-sponsored TV series, Think Big – Building Business Champions, showcasing budding entrepreneurs.
TechnoChange Solutions considers its key successes to lie in service excellence, in building a great reputation in the ICT industry, and in its ability to manage cash flow. It is common knowledge that for small businesses "cash is king"; cash is essential to the survival and success of any small business.
Another important element of the company's sustainability has been its focus on growing organically by sourcing its business mainly from the private sector. It adopted a strategy early on of building 90% of its revenue from the private sector and only 10% from the public sector. Having a strong debt collection team in place to ensure that all invoices are paid on time has also enabled TechnoChange Solutions to continue operating smoothly and providing services to its customers.
The company also attributes its success to its staff, "the foundation of the business", and its customers, "the structure of the business", saying a strong, highly skilled team is what supports the structure.
TechnoChange Solutions looks forward to another five years in business, and is committed to continue working hard. It has pledged to remain true to its mission statement, “collaborating with you to grow your business through technology”, and its work as a change agent, and it is determined to continue striving to become a trusted technology innovation partner to more and more customers.
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