By improving HR departments and training up junior recruits, TenaCiTi is contributing to small business growth.
CAPE TOWN – TenaCiTi is a revolutionary new programme between The Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi) and #cocreateSA, an initiative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The second TenaCiTi programme commenced on 6 February 2017 with an orientation evening for the participants which was held at the TenaCiTi Lab, situated at the Bandwidth Barn in The Woodstock Exchange.
TenaCiTi’s purpose is to aid small business owners by upskilling their employees, creating highly productive staff for a sustainable business. What makes TenaCiTi unique is its focus on building an enabling relationship between the business owner and the junior recruit.
LaytonMelville, the human resource consultancy firm in collaboration with TenaCiTi, hosts strategic HR interventions between the business owner and the junior recruit. Executive Managing Director and Founder, Jonathan Layton-Nel and Executive Consultant Christopher Melville-Rossouw, explains the value of people management in a small business.
“LaytonMelville’s aim is to bring awareness to businesses that Human Resources is not an auxiliary, admin-laden area of a company but is of key, strategic importance. People matter incredibly within any business and certainly, arguably more so, within a small business.”
“Our aim was to instil an understanding of the value of building up junior recruits within a company through setting well-defined goals and objectives, through a documented Goal Development Plan, and thinking creatively about how to best incentivise and facilitate development.”
Through the TenaCiTi programme, business owners have been given more clarity on how to better run their HR systems, with considerable benefits.
Damian Michael, Managing Director of InnovoNetwork, has found the TenaCiTi programme has helped him significantly within his HR department.
“Tenaciti has helped me implement great HR Tools, Policies and Procedures within my organisation. I’ve learnt an immense amount regarding HR as well as my intern who was on the program increased in morale, leadership and execution of his responsibilities.”
Mignon Keyser, strategic facilitator, worked alongside the junior recruits and observed several encouraging successes among them.
“The participants are experiencing a significant increase in confidence and their abilities to manage themselves in their workplaces,” said Keyser.
“This has enabled them to plan more strategically regarding the skills they need to master and the work that needs to be done for them to be successful.”
By harnessing workplace skills, including time management and planning, the recruits are better able to navigate their careers.
“They are learning to find strategies for themselves to deal with their challenges and can now communicate better with their employees.”
Aphiwe Mpambani from Kinetic Skunk IT Solutions, is one TenaCiTi recruit who has experienced considerable improvement in his career development. Since the programme, Aphiwe has incorporated getting to work early into his routine to have more time with his team and is raising his views more during meetings. This initiative has led his company to offer him a contract, much to his delight.
By equipping small businesses with concrete HR processes and their junior employees with highly valued professional skills, there’s no limit to what can be achieved.