MESSAGE FROM THE CEO – SEPTEMBER 2023
Reminder: This newsletter is to be issued once every Quarter after the Performace Reviews and Staff feedback Sessions – for information-sharing purposes regarding any new developments, to keep in line with our aim of promoting transparency. We will also use it to communicate our progress in relation to our set targets for the year.
Firstly, I’d like to wish the team a happy spring season that is upon us. The weather continues to warm up and will usher in summer, which is always filled with excitement, laughter, and festivities. One speaker of antiquity compared life to the changing seasons. He explained that people are faced first with winter, a season in one’s life when nothing seems to go as planned, a season when everything seems to fall apart, a season of heartbreak, despair, sadness, and loneliness. Secondly, we are faced with the seasons of Summer and Autumn/Fall. Summer is characterized by growth, protection, and nurturing depending on what is planted or planned for, in the Season of Spring. Autumn/ Fall is characterized by achievement, failures, and a moment of reflection which is highly dependent on what you do in Summer. Lastly, Spring is characterized by a sense of hope, of new beginnings and opportunities. Spring is where it all starts. What you do in Spring affects what you can nurture and protect in Summer and thus harvest in Autumn/fall, in preparation for Winter. Spring is therefore the foundation of all things good in one’s life. Once again Happy Spring Team!
As Ditlou Consulting, we pride ourselves on providing high-quality solutions, timeously with a great attitude, thus improving lives. There are various challenges in our sector (infrastructure Development) that have gripped our nation and are threatening to bring it to its knees. Problems such as poor planning and shoddy workmanship when rolling out buildings, housing, roads, municipal, and bulk services infrastructure. Poor planning is happening at all levels starting from the top at the client level, where projects need to be initiated and budgeted for. It then cascades down to Built Environment Professionals and the Contractors at implementation. We, therefore, exist to assist clients in better packages and budgets for the projects. Infrastructure development is meant to improve the lives of the communities and environment not just shortly but for many, many years to come. Some buildings were constructed in the 50’s and 60’s that are still standing and are serving their purpose. We must therefore not be swayed and/or coerced by client representatives to oversee and sign off projects that are not solutions. We must always provide solutions that will stand the test of time. Solutions that will be able to defend themselves even in our absence, when we are long gone and forgotten.
It is the end of the first quarter of the financial year 2023/24. To ensure that the company continues to grow, we have decided to revise our yearly targets as follows:
ITEM | DESCRIPTION | FYR 2022/23 | FYR 2023/24 |
1 | Target 1 (Minimum Achievement: Break Even or Sufficiency Zone) | R25m | R30m |
2 | Target 2 (Ideal achievement: Bonus Zone 1) | R60m | R70m |
3 | Target 3 (Grand Achievement: Bonus Zone 2) | R100m | R120m |
Below is a comparison between the Previous Financial Year (2022/23) and the current Financial Year (2023/24):
ITEM | DESCRIPTION | FYR 2022/23 | FYR 2023/24 |
1 | Quarter 1 (March – May) | R18.73m | R8.46m |
When comparing the Quarter 1 figures of the previous year with the current year’s, it is clear that we have some catching up to do. The drop in numbers does not necessarily mean that we won’t achieve our set targets rather, what it means is that each and every one of us needs to double our efforts to ensure that we not only get more new work but we retain existing clients as well. The marketing strategy that we have employed to diversify our portfolio to include private clients will not only ensure that we increase our bottom line but will also assist us in maintaining a healthy cash flow. We are excited about the prospects of Quarters 2 and 3 because we have a project pipeline that comprises projects that are sizeable, challenging, and exciting. In this financial year, our main focus shall be on the Top 4 clients that have proven to be our main revenue drivers in the past i.e. COT (City of Tshwane), COE (City of Ekurhuleni), JOSHCO (Johannesburg Social Housing Company) & RAL (Roads Agency Limpopo). Although the above-listed clients are our priority clients, we shall also endeavor to retain all the clients that we have on our books especially those that have given us work in the past and those that have already appointed us on their 3 years Panels of Professionals i.e. Midvaal Local Municipality, Maquassi Hills Local Municipality, Madibeng Local Municipality, Lekwa Local Municipality and Merafong Local Municipality.
We shall also endeavor to forge strategic partnerships with companies that already have a foothold in the private sector, especially in areas that are of interest to us such as retail, commercial, and social housing. We shall also lean on the above partnerships to build a formidable team that will ensure that we deliver high-quality solutions, timeously. We shall endeavor to build a young dynamic team of good, nice individuals that have either recently registered or are eligible to register. We shall also continue to invest in our existing team. We continue to encourage our team to focus on personal development and continuous growth as it would make it easy for us to promote people from within to managerial positions because they already understand what we stand for, as an organization. We shall also employ a strategy of forging partnerships with small companies that share similar values with us. In the short to medium term we shall make acquisitions to grow our team and having such relationships creates an environment that is conducive for such a strategy to bear fruits.
In conclusion, We are excited about the Culture definition project that the HR division has embarked upon. Our preferred culture is that of family, a high sense of belonging, and comradery. Our strongest belief is that if our team has the abovementioned attributes it will not only excel but will far exceed our set targets. We believe that people need to feel good to perform at their peak and reach their full potential. All great companies comprise teams of people who are driven by a strong sense of purpose and pulled into the future by audacious goals and targets. They comprise people with a great attitude and a zest for life. The people who build incredible companies are never deterred by temporary challenges, instead, they are driven by a promise of a better tomorrow. As a group, we have more than what it takes to build such a company. A company that will be known long after we are gone, for delivering high-quality solutions, timeously with a great attitude.
Book of Choice = Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
I Thank You
From: Otshepeng Ranamane
Chief Executive Officer
