Coronavirus impact on Transformation with Dr Robin Woolley

Creating a Transformation Action Plan with Dr Robin Woolley. Dr Robin Woolley, a founder of Transcend, will be running a free webinar, which will prepare you to develop a relevant appropriate action plan to the business transformation challenges both now and post the recovery.

Coronavirus has put our country, our companies and our people at great risk. Many South Africans will be left vulnerable. The next few months will place strain on companies’ budgets and focus, especially the transformation budget.

It is essential that you have a short-term response, and start to think about maintaining the investment and capacity that you have built up. This is the time for social cohesion not knee-jerk reactions. As we work through these difficult times we need all stakeholders: government, private sector and employees to pull together. Not just to survive but to build the country we want to thrive in.

Kindly note this webinar has ended but a recording of the webinar is accessible by clicking the link below. 

Please contact Brian.Hendrikz@transcend.co.za if you would like any further assistance.

The Youth Employment Service (Y.E.S) Programme During Lockdown And After

The cost per person to view this past webinar is R 450.00 (excl. VAT).

Accessing business relief schemes during COVID-19

During the 21-day lock-down many businesses are unable to operate at full capacity. While the severe measures put in place are expected to reduce the number of lives that will be lost due to COVID-19, they are expected to have a considerable impact on many businesses’ ability to stay profitable.

How do you stay profitable during and after this lock-down and mitigate the impact of these measures on your businesses and the people you employ?

Transcend is able to assist your company in accessing the various business relief mechanisms that have been introduced.

They include the following:

• Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (COVID-19 TERS): This is an Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) initiative that has been established to provide temporary financial relief to employees where it is economically not possible for their employers to pay them due to a closure of the employer’s business operations resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
• SMME Debt Relief Finance Scheme: This scheme is spearheaded by the Department of Small Business Development and aims to assist SMMEs that have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 state of disaster by providing relief on existing debts and repayments.
• Business Growth/Resilience Facility” The Department of Small Business Development has also championed this scheme that is intended to enable continued participation of SMMEs in supply value-chains. This fund is focused on those SMMEs who locally manufacture or supply items which are in demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic (these are items such as sanitizers, detergents and tissue paper).
• IDC essential supplies intervention: The Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC) has made funds available to fund companies for the acquisition and/or the manufacturing of essential supplies on an urgent basis to combat the COVID-19 pandemic that is facing South Africa.
• NEF COVID-19 Intervention Fund: The National Empowerment Fund (NEF) has dedicated a fund to provide working capital funding to black-owned SMMEs who manufacture various medical supplies that are required to assist in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through 14 years of consulting, Transcend has developed the skills to assist clients in accessing these funds and business relief schemes.

The case for eLearning

The cost per person to view this past webinar is R 450.00 (excl. VAT).

A guide to Employment Equity and Skills Development compliance

In view of the current pandemic of COVID 19 which has virtually led most business operations to a halt; it is envisaged that companies will need to put in contingent plans to continue existence. It is further expected that many businesses will be imposing moratoriums on recruitment and non-essential skills development which will have an impact on employment equity and skills plans. This webinar will highlight on how business can remain compliant during and post COVID19 pandemic.

In this webinar we discussed the best approaches for businesses to remain both procedurally and substantively compliant in respect of skills development and employment equity aspects such as:

• The business and legislative risks are you exposed if you are or become non-compliant;
• How to leverage scarce financial resources for skills plans by tapping into all available funding;
• Pending changes to the EE Act; and
• Statutory responsibilities and reporting requirements.

Due to the negative impact of COVID-19 on business profitability and related impact on business valuation, many companies find themselves in a situation where their BEE transactions are underwater.  This will result in Net Value points dropping below the subminimum level, and a reduction of between one and two BEE levels.

This may impact the ability to do business with existing and future customers, and may also result in breach of customer and licensing contracts.

A strong BEE scorecard will continue to be important, even if it may not seem an immediate priority.

In this webinar we discussed our recommendations on dealing with existing BEE transactions:

1. Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on current BEE transactions and Net Value points
2. Considering the options of:
   • Waiting out the crisis for value to return; or
   • Restructuring the current transaction,
3. Communicating to BEE shareholders as to the current position and the proposed options available for the parties.

Structuring new BEE transactions can be expensive and time consuming. This is the time when management effort and funds should be focused on sustaining businesses. It is worth understanding the options to salvage the existing transaction, particularly if done without significant debt write off – thus maintaining shareholder value for all parties.

Please let us know if you would like to speak to one of our ownership specialists by contacting us here.

We look forward to welcoming you.