By Steven Klukowski
WINDHOEK – Solely owned by a Namibian woman, Esh-Ham Business Consultants’ main objective is to assist young, upcoming companies to conform to all mandatory requirements to register as small and medium enterprises. New Era spoke to the sole owner, Ester Hamukoto, on why she believes her company has what it takes to make its mark in the future.
New Era (NE): How long has Esh-Ham Business Consultants been in existence and how big is your workforce, especially in terms of gender?
Ester Hamukoto (EH): The business has been in existence and operating for two years even though it was registered in 2011.There is only one full-time female employee at this stage since the other one resigned this month. I am in the process of recruiting another female employee before 1 July 2014.
NE: What do you prefer – a close corporation (cc) or a proprietary limited company, and why?
EH: I prefer a close corporation as it is more convenient for a small type of business and does not require so many employees to start with. It is furthermore easier to control.
NE: What is your company’s record in terms of social responsibility, giving back to the community by means of donations, grants, etc.?
EH: As a new business we donated clothes last year to an orphanage owned by Samuel Kapepo.
NE: What is your company’s field of specialization in the procurement process e.g. is it construction, supply and delivery of goods and services, etc.?
EH: Esh-Ham Business Consultants specialises in business consulting services, assisting new and up-coming small and medium enterprises to start up their business.
NE: What is the rate of success of your company’s output with regard to tenders being awarded to you?
EH: I was not awarded any tender yet, since I am more involved in providing general consultancy services to the community, but will definitely participate more in the tender process in future.
NE: Do your employees belong to a pension fund and medical aid scheme, and if not in which way are they assisted in this regard?
EH: My employees are all registered with the Social Security Commission, but I will register them with a pension scheme and medical aid at a later stage.
NE: How well-equipped are your employees when it comes to occupational health and safety at the workplace?
EH: We do not really apply in this (occupational health and safety) since we are operating in an environment that does cause any health hazards.
NE: Are you facing any challenges when applying for standard mandatory, good standing certificates at inland revenue, social security, trade and industry, etc?
EH: I mainly assist SMEs when applying for these documents and the general feeling is that the process of obtaining it is very much time delaying and not up to standard.
NE: What programmes are in place in terms of skills development and capacity building of employees at your company?
EH: We recently had an entrepreneurship and business development workshop and I furthermore constantly train my employees on issues that are affecting our industry and growth in general.
NE: What is your view with regard to the frequent reporting of ‘tenderpreneurship’ (corruption in the tender process) in newspapers and what can be done to address it?
EH: I am not actively involved in the tender process at this stage but believe that more should be done to ensure a fair and equal balance when it comes to the awarding of tenders to companies, as the media always reports on this unfairness of awarding tenders to incompetent people.