Brightly coloured containers are used as shops and offices by some of the entrepreneurs supported by Business Activator's holistic programme that combines business development and life skills training.
Business Activator, South Africa
Egbert Wessels, CEO, Business Activator
"Business Activator – formerly The Business Place Philippi – had the good fortune (because it surely wasn’t planned that way!) to have Rosie and Ian on board at a very critical stage in our organisational journey. After 14 years as part of a ‘social franchise’, we struck out on our own and had their expertise and skills at hand to assist in reviewing our strategy, structure and systems, and then to help restrategise.
Upon arrival, they immediately set out to destroy the stereotype of consultants, and especially that of foreign consultants, that is so common in the developing world NGO-sector. They listened with discernment and followed up with pertinent and incisive questions. Only after many hours of listening to all staff and a wide range of stakeholders did the co-labouring process of synthesising this information into a new construct start. Even then their insights were offered with no hubris.
Ian and Rosie’s background as a commercial CEO and materials developer respectively, makes for a balanced team that addressed the ‘hard’ and the ‘soft’ issues at play. NGOs nowadays need to bring a business-minded approach to strategy and operations. Ian applied the experience of years of managing successful businesses, and Rosie pulls together the different strands in a comprehensive and coherent whole.
We were presented and left with a well-crafted, comprehensive review of our organisation, as well as a plan and the roadmap to address the areas we needed to reconstruct.
We are privileged to have had Teamworks walk a part of our transition journey with us. Their contribution will form more than a part of our new foundations!"