“WorleyParsons RSA’s Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) programme is crucial to the company’s corporate and social responsibility agenda, which calls for not only active participation in addressing socio-economic challenges in South Africa, but also much-needed transformation in the engineering sector,” says Denver Dreyer, CEO of WorleyParsons RSA.

The ESD programme is proving to be mutually beneficial to WorleyParsons as well as its Enterprise Development (ED) partners, demonstrated by a recent successful joint tender for the Union School project which involved the relocation of the school from its previous rural location to Breyten Mpumalanga, a move necessitated by mine closure operations.

The two ESD partners collaborating with WorleyParsons on the project are UNN Surveys, a 100% black women-owned entity specialising in land development, land management and engineering consulting; and Shaweni Consulting Engineers, offering professional consulting services in the fields of civil and structural engineering, electrical and mechanical engineering and project management.

Gladwin Mfolo, Manager of Transformation at WorleyParsons RSA, says that the bid was a joint effort amongst the three companies with WorleyParsons serving as project manager and ensuring good governance throughout the duration of the project.

“We invited UNN Surveys and Shaweni Consulting Engineers to jointly tender with us for the project as they had the required expertise,” says Mfolo. WorleyParsons RSA’s decision to jointly bid for the project was two-fold, explains Mfolo.

“Firstly, we could offer more competitive pricing as the overheads of our ED partners are not as large as WorleyParsons’, and secondly it was an opportunity to transfer skills to our ED partners as well as give them exposure to working with blue-chip clients.”

Mfolo says that the project is currently underway following the kick-off meeting in April 2017, with the scope of work including the development of the site for the new school adjacent to an existing primary school, along with the installation of mobile buildings and all related services and municipal approvals.

UNN has already completed the site survey, and Shaweni are in the process of preparing the location in order to engineer the required services for project execution which include electricity supply, sewer and storm water reticulation and roads and parking. The new school is expected to be ready for use by August 2017.

Besides introducing potential clients to their ED partner companies, WorleyParsons RSA also assists the companies with branding, marketing collateral, legal compliance, market positioning and financial compliance.  Conversely these SMEs introduce WorleyParsons RSA to their own client base, enabling a mutually beneficial relationship of growth.

“By approaching tenders such as the Union School project in partnership with our ED affiliates, we can create sustainable, empowered businesses that are capable of growing with us, as well as collectively gain employ,” says Mfolo. “We are pleased to note that our ED partners are also increasingly bringing in their own tenders that we can collaborate on, once again underlining the mutually favourable aspect of the system.” 

WorleyParsons RSA’s Enterprise and Supplier Development programme builds on the success of the company’s earlier Enterprise Development programme which saw a combined turnover growth of the initial ED partner companies by 204% and the creation of over 100 permanent and temporary jobs in South Africa.

The system operates by evaluating the strengths that each party brings to the table and identifying where the business partners can help each other.

The ED enterprises benefit from skills transfer while simultaneously gaining an understanding of how to successfully deliver bigger projects with WorleyParsons RSA’s support. WorleyParsons in turn expands their business networks and assists in transforming the engineering sector in South Africa, an imperative element in their own long-term success.