MBABANE - Overall winner of last year’s Believe Begin Become (BBB) Business Plan Competition (BPC) Phila Msibi has officially opened the doors to his business.

 

The business, trading as SG Power Products & Services, was opened in July and is based in Nhlangano.

 

It specialises in the supply of quality power tools mainly required by the forestry contractors such as chainsaws, bush cutters and lawn mowers for the domestic market. It also provides the backup spares and repair services for the full range of products that the business stocks.

 

The E150 000 prize money that Msibi received from TechnoServe after winning the BPC, along with further loan finance from Standard Bank, was used towards setting up and starting the business.

 

The business has been well received by many of his potential customers working in the Shiselweni forestry industry.

 

The customers consist mainly of contractors who in turn, are servicing one of the larger forestry companies in the country, Shiselweni Forestry. Previously, these contractors had to travel to South Africa or sometimes to Manzini or Mbabane to get the equipment and spares that they needed in order to execute their service contracts.

 

The advent of this business has, therefore, been regarded as a huge relief solving the above mentioned problem. “Instead of travelling for 40 kilometres to Piet Retief to get a simple spare part, now one can travel for four kilometres to get everything they need at a better price,” said Solomon Mthethwa of Sipheshula Contractors.

 

Having worked in the industry for nine years, Phila experienced the same problems and saw an opportunity to venture into this business. He decided to take the opportunity that the BBB programme presented and submitted his application mainly for the training part of the programme as he believed that he needed to improve his business management skills before actually starting up the business.

 

When asked, Msibi said making that decision paid dividends for him as he progressed through the various stages of the competition to eventually become the overall winner of the first competition held in Swaziland.

 

He disclosed that the seed capital prize money that he used greatly assisted him in securing the additional finance that he required to get the business started. He added that in order to get started he needed to secure the premises, purchase stock and a vehicle including securing adequate working capital to sustain the operations of the business as he continued building up his client base.

 

Msibi conceded that there were challenges when setting up his business.

 

 

“I was faced with challenges ranging from company registration, obtaining a trading licence to developing a marketing strategy for the business. In addition securing rental space for the retail outlet came with its own financial challenges. I had to pay a deposit and the monthly rental whilst waiting for my loan application to be approved. I exhausted my personal savings in the process,” he explained.

 

He noted that his entry into the market had been received with a sense of relief and excitement. Although a new business, he said sales were improving on a daily basis. He reckons that his customers are impressed with the competitive prices on offer and the customer support services that he is able to provide.

 

Malcose Dlamini of EM Loggers said SG Power Tools & Services had definitely helped to alleviate the problems that contractors experienced with the sourcing of tools from outside the country’s borders.

 

“SG Power Products & Services has greatly assisted us in that we do not have to deal with the cross border value added tax (VAT) and sales tax issues any longer and we save on our transport costs. Another advantage is that you can call them anytime in the event that a machine stops functioning; thus reducing our down time. It is therefore important that we support such a new business owned by a person from this area who understands our needs,” said Dlamini.

 

Meanwhile, Nathi Makhanya of Shiselweni Loggers highlighted that in the past they were exposed to unreliable dealers when they needed someone to repair their machines.

 

He also expressed his trust in Msibi’s ability to deliver the quality back up service and support. “We have a good relationship with Msibi and we receive excellent service unlike in the past when we had no option but to deal with individuals who quite often failed to deliver the expected service,” he said.

 

SG Power Products & Services currently has five permanent employees. Msibi also revealed that there were prospects of employing a further 15 seasonal employees since his services would extend to bush clearing.