Empact Group is a purpose-led, 100% South African-owned company, which keeps their company ethos at the heart of everything they do, not least of which is their Enterprise & Supplier Development programme. The focus of the Empact Group Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) training sessions in recent months has been rooted in their catch phrase, “We care. Doing right by you”. When you take a moment to think about the true meaning behind those words, they become a powerful statement and a pledge to consistently abide by doing the right thing in every interaction, whether it is with clients, staff, stakeholders or suppliers. This statement speaks of a choice to taking the lesser travelled path, not the path of least resistance.

Ryan Neill, Group Head of Procurement for Empact Group, leads their award-winning ESD programme. The training sessions are set out to share the guidance and experience of professionals who touch and drive ESD initiatives and solutions across South Africa. At the most recent session guest speakers from Shared Value Africa and the Thebe Foundation were present to share their views and opinions around what success looks like in ESD, and how each entrepreneur and corporate business plays a role.

It is clear that partnerships between government, business and small enterprises are key to the improvement of employment and economic challenges we face in South Africa. With this in mind, Empact Group has taken the initiative by driving this ethos through their supply chain. The resulting recognition is evidenced in the awards Empact has won over the past few years at the ABSA Supplier Development Awards.

The second part of the most recent ESD training session day was dedicated to formal business training with members of the Empact Group C-suite and facilitators offering insight into business best practices as well as how to manage business operations and back-office processes. The intent of this was to pass on skills and knowledge from Empact Group’s specialists across, procurement, finance, marketing, health, safety & environment, operations, technology and human resources.

It was inspiring to see the verity in small business entrepreneurs from EMEs (annual revenue below R10 million) and QSEs (annual revenue between R10 & R50-million) that are either on a development journey to become a supplier of Empact Group (Enterprise Development Beneficiary) or are already a supplier to Empact Group (Supplier Development Beneficiary). The true essence of Empact’s enterprise development lies in sourcing business or potentially assisting in the set up of a business, and actively being involved in the development work so that the business can eventually become part of the Empact supply chain. It’s about empowering a business to grow and become successful in its own right. These are some of the stories of those businesses.

Go Fresh Hospitality and Retail Solutions

Krupa Brikha is one of the Directors at Go Fresh and heads up sales and leads customer service by ensuring all her clients needs are taken care of. Having worked in the fruit and vegetable environment nearly all her career, Krupa and the other directors at Go Fresh have worked with Empact Group for many years. When Go Fresh was established, Empact Group was happy to place them on their ESD programme to assist with development that would enable them to become part of Empact’s supply chain. This included guidance around Health & Safety best practices and product evaluation that fits with Empact Groups standards which led to Go Fresh being graduated in April 2021 as a full supplier to Empact across the Gauteng region. Since becoming a supplier, they have gone from strength to strength and now are one of Empact Group’s best small suppliers, displaying significant growth in revenue. Ongoing training and development continue to ensure that Go Fresh maintain the highest standards as they grow.

NDS Chefs Academy

Ndikhoya Dinaledi Services PTY (LTD) alias NDS Chefs Academy is a dynamic small business established in January 2013. Owned and managed by Lebo Lekotoko, the primary focus of NDS Chefs Academy is education and training specifically in the hospitality and tourism sectors. Lebo has a long history with Empact Group spanning over 20 years, which began when she joined a learnership programme with Empact Group, then went on to be employed by Empact Group in one of their food outlets. In the years since then Lebo has built up real passion and knowledge of the hospitality industry and now provides training to employees at Empact Group amongst others, to ensure they are able to place the best skilled chefs and customer facing staff into their food outlets. Her passion and dedication to customer service adds real value to Empact Group’s drive to provide the best possible service to their clients.

These are just a few of the success stories borne out of the ESD programme which bear testimony to Empact Group’s ethos: Doing right by you!