Uyandiswa, a start-up project management consultancy based in Johannesburg, is now generating about R100 million in turnover after benefiting from JSE listed software firm Adapt IT’s enterprise development programme.
The start-up led and founded by Amanda Dambuza joined Adapt IT’s enterprise development programme in 2014.
At the time, Adapt IT acquired 49% of Uyandiswa as part of a three-year programme.
Benefiting from the programme, Uyandiswa has grown from a two-person business, helping Dambuza to build it into an 80 person-strong firm with a turnover nearing R100 million.
To enable the business to grow further Adapt IT has sold back the 49% shareholding in Uyandiswa at a deep discount to Dambuza.
The Durban-based software firm said its Business Intelligence (BI) resourcing division now falls within the Uyandiswa stable, in a transaction fully funded by Adapt IT. This transaction is effective 1 July 2017.
“This gives the company a particular edge in the niche areas within which it operates in. Our offering has been bolstered and we can continue to be a trusted partner to our clients through agile solutions that deliver tangible results and meaningful data enabling better and faster decision making,” says Dambuza.
“This represents one of the few cases of enterprise development done right in South Africa, with absolute commitment from both parties, and the proof of this is in our ongoing success.”
Uyandiswa’s footprint presently spans South Africa and Botswana, with a focus on the financial services, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and healthcare sectors.
Focusing on the future, Dambuza plans to pay the support received from Adapt IT forward, by continuing to nurture other black-women owned businesses and closing the skills development gap within South Africa.
Not only has Uyandiswa set up its own enterprise and supplier development programmes as an important part of its ecosystem, it has also established the Uyandiswa Graduate Programme.
“As an independent company, Uyandiswa is moving into a new era, bolstered with all of the tools and structures we could ever need to succeed. It is a very exciting time for our business,” she says.
Sbu Shabalala, CEO of Adapt IT, announced during the company’s recent annual results presentation that the enterprise development programme has proven successful and has borne the fruits it had set out to achieve; to support and help small black-owned businesses to grow and thrive.
“We are extremely proud of the success of Uyandiswa, helped in its early phase of development through Adapt IT’s enterprise development programme, and look forward to seeing the new, expanded Uyandiswa thrive in the years ahead,” says Shabalala.
