Page 4 - Biz Magazine August 2019
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Emvelo has been involved in a number of To overcome these challenges I obtained business
environmental and quality control projects management skills through joining Enterprise
around South Africa. Some of these have been Development Institutions like Black Umbrellas
successfully completed within the past 4 years. and SEDA. Having attended some of the business
Our services include (but are not limited to) management training sessions available through
Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), Water these institutes it really accelerated my business
Use License Applications (WULAs), Waste Licenses, to the next level. We have always ensured that we
Environmental Control Officer (ECOs) duties and deliver the best services to our clients and this has
Quality Management Systems (ISO 9001:2015). not only made our company remarkable, it has also
made us more attractive to new customers. The
The challenges that we went through is that a increased demand for our services has increased
new business has limited ways our cashflow and this has enabled us to obtain the
to convince banks to fund resources that we need to function optimally.
their capital requirements,
especially as a professional We have gone to great lengths to educate our clients
services organisation. and the community about being environmentally
Because we did not have any responsible. We have also worked with them to
fixed assets to use as security, find ways to incorporate environmentally friendly
this was a challenge. Government lifestyle choices into their day to day operations,
programmes also focus on funding instead of approaching environmental laws as once
off (or occasional) events for compliance purposes.
firms that provide tangible We are also expanding these efforts to enhance
products. There is a limited waste management approaches by introducing
number of business funding recycling projects in the different communities. We
programmes which target believe educating our clients is just as important
professional services firms. We as helping them comply with the laws. Since
nevertheless needed to remain 2015 we have been conducting environmental
in operation. We achieved awarenesses at the local Schools and through
that by covering our expenses our relentless passion we have established a new
such as salaries, office space, environmental awareness event in Richards Bay,
office equipment, telephone that will be held in September 2019. One of our
expenses, internet usage, travel goals is to teach the community and the respective
expenses and other professional companies about the importance of greening the
costs to ensure we comply with buildings to reduce the carbon footprint and hence
government regulations. These we have added green building services. We have
professional costs included been presented with opportunities to expand our
SARS requirements, and labour services to other provinces such as Mpumalanga,
law demands just to name but North West and Gauteng. As a KZN founded
a few. Not having funding from company, we want to ensure that we are the great
the banks or the government, I was ambassadors to other provinces and nationally.
forced to fund these expenses using Having a great reputation in other provinces will
my savings as an investment. Cash not only be good for our growth, but will be great
flow has also always been a challenge for the image of KZN as well.
like other small businesses, due to the
delayed settlement of invoices.
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