Nozihle Cleaning Services (Nozihle) (http://www.nozihlecleaningservices.co.za/) provides tailored cleaning, gardening, and hygiene services, specialising in environmentallyfriendly methods. Based in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, Nozihle was established in 2003 by Ms Dolly Mbuyane, initially on a part-time basis, with operations being-scaled up to a full-time basis in 2007. The company currently has more than 100 employees and has won several awards, including being a Finalist in the 2011 Award for Small Enterprises given by the Lowveld Chamber Business and Tourism (LCBT) and Nedbank, and a winner in the 2012 Mpumalanga Productivity Awards.


NOZIHLE CLEANING SERVICES AND SASDC

Nozihle joined SASDC in January 2011 when the Council was established, and has since made use of a number of SASDC’s services including its ‘meet the buyer’ events, and the annual conference/business opportunity fair. Ms Mbuyane noted that these events were helpful, particularly the contractor’s forum held at Rand Water and organised by SASDC. “The value in this forum was in meeting other certified suppliers and developing knowledge around health and safety standards”. 

Ms Mbuyane has been an active SASDC member and has been part of the Black Supplier Input Committee (BSIC) whose role is to provide SASDC corporate members with key insights into the certified suppliers’ experience of SASDC and how to maximise the success of SASDC’s business linkage function.

 

The key benefits that Nozihle has derived from its SASDC membership have been (in order of importance): 


1. The provision of a cost-effective platform to market their products and services

2. The ability to connect directly with corporate procurement decision-makers

3. The ability to network with other black-owned businesses

4. Enhanced business know-how and capabilities 
    CEO



SHELL AND NOZIHLE CLEANING SERVICES

The establishment of the linkage between Shell and Nozihle began in August 2015 when SASDC requested that Nozihle update their company profile for SASDC’s records. Shortly thereafter, Nozihle was contacted by Shell who were looking to source cleaning services. Shell had established target areas within which they wanted to expand their procurement from black and women-owned businesses; one of these areas being cleaning services.


Shell’s Transformation Specialist in Procurement approached SASDC and requested the profiles of certified suppliers that offer cleaning services. Based on this, Shell reached out to Nozihle with a request for quotation (RFQ).

In conjunction with the tender process, Shell carried out a gap assessment of Nozihle, focusing on areas where Shell could provide capacity development assistance. One gap identified by Shell was in the area of Health, Safety, Security, and Environment (HSSE).

Nozihle tendered and received Shell contracts in Polokwane (Limpopo), Nelspruit (Mpumalanga), and Emalahleni (Mpumalanga), but they were not successful in receiving contracts at Shell sites in Gauteng or KwaZulu-Natal. This was based on Shell’s assessment that Nozihle should start with smaller sites, and focus on capacity building and scaling up of their operations.

Since the linkage with Shell, Nozihle has benefitted from the in-house capacity building provided by Shell, which has committed human, financial, and technical resources to develop its suppliers. Ms Mbuyane noted that the exposure that Nozihle received from SASDC has been invaluable in terms of developing the confidence to do business with large companies.


In Ms Mbuyane’s view, SASDC was essential in establishing the linkage between Nozihle and Shell. This sentiment is echoed by Shell’s Transformation Specialist in Procurement who noted that SASDC is Shell’s first port of call when seeking black and/or women-owned suppliers. To the extent that black or women owned businesses approach Shell directly, Shell refers them to SASDC, as SASDC’s certification includes a portion of the initial vetting that Shell would otherwise have to do. Furthermore, Shell finds SASDC to be a useful intermediary when the company would anonymously like more information on a potential supplier – without having to disclose that Shell is looking for a new supplier. In addition to establishing the linkage between Nozihle, Shell, noted that “SASDC was helpful in introducing Nozihle to potential sub-contractors for its larger projects”.

From Shell’s perspective, SASDC is particularly beneficial because “…Shell’s procurement team is very small and for us to be sourcing suppliers – for us it is quite difficult. I think it is a very good partnership.” Shell went on to say that the addition of Sebastian Preston to the SASDC team has been instrumental in strengthening the partnership, noting that “Sebastian has been great in matching our needs with suppliers already in the database as well as finding other suppliers that might meet our needs.” Shell now only sources its black-owned suppliers, such as Nozihle, through SASDC and has referred about 30 suppliers to SASDC over the last few months. 

THE IMPACT OF THE SHELL CONTRACT ON NOZIHLE

As a result of the Shell contracts in Polokwane, Nelspruit, and Emalahleni, Nozihle was able to hire more staff and buy additional equipment. 
The company is also expecting a considerable bump in revenue for the 2015/2016 financial year. From a staffing perspective, Nozihle was able to employ an additional nine members of staff – two in Nelspruit and Polokwane, and five in Emalahleni.

From a revenue perspective, Nozihle grew by 1% between the 2012/13 and 2013/14 financial years. Between the 2013/14 and 2014/15 financial years, revenue growth improved considerably – increasing by 41%. The biggest jump is however expected in the 2015/16 financial year. Ms Mbuyane forecasts that, in large part due to the contract with Shell, Nozihle’s revenue will increase by 71% this year when compared to the previous financial year.