A goal of the Government empowerment strategy White Paper is that small businesses, particularly those owned and operated by black entrepreneurs, must form an integral part of the national economy and economic policy.

 

In this regard the following constraints facing small, medium and micro enterprises are identified:

 

Access to finance

Markets

Management skills

Supportive institutional arrangements

 

ASA are market leaders in community benefit and empowerment initiatives.  This can best be demonstrated by our role of empowerment procurement managers for the R500m Kliptown project for The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA).

 

The aforementioned constraints also apply to the construction industry, in which JDA, acting as Employer to contractors, annually invests millions of Rands in Engineering Infrastructure Projects such as roads and storm-water drainage.

 

To achieve the empowerment principles in the construction and building industries, an environment conducive to emerging contractor development has to be created by eliminating or reducing the constraints and restrictive practices, which presently exist.

 

It should be borne in mind that the constraints in the construction industry developed and evolved over many years as a result of construction problems and other contractual shortcomings experienced on contracts. These practices should thus not be ignored or done away with arbitrarily. PURE WORKSPACE has pro-actively innovated procurement strategies appropriate to address current economic circumstances in the construction industry particularly on emerging contractors and BEE.