While entrepreneurial support initiatives can improve the environment in which to establish a new venture, its success depends on the grit and determination of the individual entrepreneur, says integrated facilities management company Servest Landscaping executive director Simon Manaka.

“Youths who have had the opportunity to gain an education and tertiary training must not complain that they cannot break into a tight job market. They should have the drive to start from the bottom and work their way up to where they want to be.”

Manaka has been working at Servest since 1987 and was earmarked early in his career for the company’s skills development programme.

“When I applied to work at Servest Landscaping, they did not have a position available for me. I then offered to work free as a gardener for a month to demonstrate my potential. I was employed the following month.”

Manaka knocked on the doors of adjacent prop-erties in the Sandton area to acquire more business for Servest. His personal initiative enabled the company to secure additional business, increasing the sites it served in the area from 3 to 24, says Servest Group deputy chairman Dennis Zietsman.

During this time, Manaka received mentoring from former Servest Landscaping MD Brendon Dooley, who acted as a sounding board for him, and also gained first-hand experience of running a large business.

Manaka was later promoted to area manager, which enabled him to train and develop staff and also to develop himself professionally. This resulted in his managing more than 100 sites, with up to 300 employees reporting to him.

“Servest then helped Manaka to create Sonke Plantscapers. It seems counterintuitive to establish a direct competitor to your business, but he had reached a ceiling with regard to his development at Servest.

“Sonke Plantscapers started business in 2000 with ten employees and a single contract, but expanded to employ about 700 people within ten years serving large-scale public and private organisations,” says Zietsman.

Servest acquired Sonke Plantscapers in 2010 and augmented its Servest Landscaping busi-ness with the people and contracts of Sonke Plantscapers.

Zietsman and Manaka note Servest now aims to grow in South Africa, Southern Africa and Africa. Both men note that, despite Servest operating in eight African countries, the com-pany enters markets only if it has identified robust opportunities and compatible financial regulations in those markets.

“We are pushing new ventures and looking for new opportunities. Part of the entrepreneurial spirit is to acknowledge that things will not be the same tomorrow and one continually has to change the scope of the business and consider the dynamics underlying the changes in your market.

“My advice to people aiming to establish their own businesses is that they must have a passion for what you are doing. This is important, as entrepreneurs must understand that they must love what they do and not do it for the money. Money will follow if you do what you love and your passion will lead to the business succeeding because you are willing to work and make a success of it,” Manaka explains.

Meanwhile, Zietsman notes that good perfor-mance, passion and initiative are the markers used to identify candidates for Servest’s skills development programmes.