IDCE finance helpng public industry to grow
2 start your business, get in touch with IDCE they finance businesses across sectors; we catch up with one of their beneficiaries, Thabani Gina to share his business growth.
Please tell us about yourself and how the business was established.
My name is habani ina and I oper ate a public transport business dubbed holiwe ransport. he business was established in after I was encour aged by my cousin to venture into the industry.
I was inspired in this business during my early years when I worked as a con ductor in my cousin s public transport business during school holidays. hen I started working, the same cousin advised me to venture in the public transport business and to achieve that I realised the need to start saving. f ter raising adequate savings for the deposit, I approached financiers who assisted me to acquire my first kombi. My cousin also guided me to affiliate with the relevant organisations and also continued to mentor me as I found my footing in the business.
How many employees do you have?
I have employees because I have vehicles, and each vehicle is manned by two people. wo vehicles service the obamba Man ini route, one services the iteki Man ini route and the last one services the und vwini Man ini route. My intention is to continue to grow the business by acquiring more vehicles and establish ing new routes.
What have you learned about managing employees?
)irstly, there must be an open com munication channel between you and your employees so that you are aware of any challenges cropping up during the course of business. Issues must not be allowed to fester but must be resolved promptly.
econdly, you need to look after the wellbeing of your staff because if they are not satisfied, the work suffers. ometimes you must go the extra mile and lend a helping hand, especially when they have family emergencies which require money. asically, the key requirement is empathy, which results in a good working relationship.
You operate a cash-based business, how do you manage it to ensure that it operates smoothly?
Daily cash generated by the business does not belong to the business owner and as such, all takings must be depos ited in the bank. ll expenses must be traceable by reflecting in the compa ny s bank statements, and banking the takings gives you that level of being able to trace all payments and income. Expenditure must not be ad hoc and hapha ard but must be accounted for, no matter the amount. t times when the amount required for the expenditure is small, one may be tempted to simply take from the cash bag, but that will not give a true picture of the financial operations of the business.
hen operating a cash based busi ness, it is important to know and un derstand its trends and know which days are the busiest and which are not. In this way, you will be able to delegate some of the duties within the business and ease the burden on yourself. It is also crucial that once you delegate a function, you do not interfere in its execution so that the person responsible becomes accountable.
In my case, one of my sons is respon sible for the financial side of the busi ness, while I manage the operations. I am able to fully focus on the smooth running of the business and if I need money for the business, I contact my son as the person responsible.
How has funding from IDCE assisted your business?
IDCE funded the procurement of an additional vehicle for my business, which has been beneficial, as it has resulted in increased revenue for the business. his is a sign of growth and I am happy to see it. I must mention as well that I find the IDCE requirements easy to fulfil and not too onerous be cause they are relevant to what a normal business should already possess for its normal operations.
What challenges do you face in the public transport industry when seeking finAnCing?
In the public transportation sector, what normally prevents businesses from acquiring funding is the non bank ing of daily takings and spending of the funds without accountability. his does not create the required track record for the business, which is what financiers would want to see.
he bank statement of a business tells a holistic story in terms of the revenues and expenses of the business, which provides the first analysis of the track record of the business. hen one seeks funding and this financial story is not coming through, it becomes difficult for financiers to gauge the viability of the business. usiness owners need to be intentional with the banking of business takings, even if the amount is small. )ortunately, banks have made it easy for us since we are able to make de posits at the M as well. ealistically, there is no excuse for not banking daily.
he other pitfall of not banking your takings is that, as a business owner, you end up not having a true picture of the profitability of your business and this does not bode well for the growth of the business. lso, at the end of the year, the business needs to prepare its financial statements which should include the income statement and balance sheet. his allows you to pay all of the required tax from profits and avoid getting in trouble with Eswatini evenue ervices E .
What skills did you need to possess when you were operating your business?
Mostly, it was the cash management skills because it is easy to misuse the money generated by the business and then face challenges when the vehicles require maintenance.
lso, make sure that the business has reserves for instances when the vehicles need to be fixed or attended to.
I also learned to monitor the business performance on a regular basis to ensure that the business can afford to meet its financial obligations, such as paying salaries and servicing leases. deficient performance should not be a surprise to you as the business owner because you are constantly monitoring it. hen you are not vigilant with the monitoring, you may find that you end up looking for other sources of funds, so that you can meet the obligations of the business. If you run another business, the tendency is to borrow from other sources to fund the under performing one, and before you know it, both businesses have failed.