Chuletho Consulting Engineering T/A Alwangwe Services
| Business Location: | Urban |
| Province | Eastern Cape |
| Branch: | Amathole |
| Business Start Date: | |
| Busniess Type: | Company |
Business Dynamics and Challenges
Business Activities:
The business offers Construction, Plant Hire and Consulting services.
Challenges/Needs:
Lack of equipment.
Intervention Insights and Results
Intervention Details:
The SMME was assisted with the application process for Asset Assist Programme Grant funding.
Outcome Details:
The SMME was approved for the Asset Assist grant funding by SEDFA to a value of R249 132,21.
Client Feedback
Client Comments:
We are a black owned business established in 2008. The company has a consulting wing dealing with construction related works.
In 2018, we established the small plant hiring services, operating from my residence. When we started hiring services we were only 2 people, a lady dealing with administration matters and me playing the role of driver, mechanics and marketing.
By the end of 2021 we had 2 more people employed assisting on mechanical works and transportation of tools. By 2022 we added another one employee, taking our staff complement to five.
In 2023 August we moved our business from my residential zone to Arcadia, which is more of an industrial / business zone and very much suitable for this type of business. The premises are easily accessible for our customers. The area or our new positioning has a potential of attracting new customers.In 2024 when we applied for financial assistance, we had two part-time members on our payroll and it was not easy to take them full time as we could not afford them at that time. Though the business showed signs of growth, it was not an easy decision to have them in on full time bases as we were struggling to increase number of tools to match up the demand. Balancing between increasing staff and buying new machines was a challenge.
During this period we had entered into a partnership with a well-established company for cross hiring. This partnership helped us to sustain and services our growing customers without having to worry about buying new machines, but at the same time we were losing revenue as we had to pay our business partners whenever we run short and we had to take machines from the.
When our application for assets assist was approved and the machines eventually delivered, this made a lot of difference and as a results a huge ground was covered in terms of increasing staff and not being worried about buying new machines, meaning the business was more efficient in servicing our customers as we had both extra workforce and more machines to meet the growing demand.
This also had a very positive impact on our cash flow as we are now not transferring much money to our cross-hiring partners.
Asset Assist program has been very much helpful to our business and we really appreciate SEDA for their intervention in buying us the equipment. Today the business has 6 fulltime employees and 1 part-time member and the plan is to have this member fully employed before the end of the year.
In 2018, we established the small plant hiring services, operating from my residence. When we started hiring services we were only 2 people, a lady dealing with administration matters and me playing the role of driver, mechanics and marketing.
By the end of 2021 we had 2 more people employed assisting on mechanical works and transportation of tools. By 2022 we added another one employee, taking our staff complement to five.
In 2023 August we moved our business from my residential zone to Arcadia, which is more of an industrial / business zone and very much suitable for this type of business. The premises are easily accessible for our customers. The area or our new positioning has a potential of attracting new customers.In 2024 when we applied for financial assistance, we had two part-time members on our payroll and it was not easy to take them full time as we could not afford them at that time. Though the business showed signs of growth, it was not an easy decision to have them in on full time bases as we were struggling to increase number of tools to match up the demand. Balancing between increasing staff and buying new machines was a challenge.
During this period we had entered into a partnership with a well-established company for cross hiring. This partnership helped us to sustain and services our growing customers without having to worry about buying new machines, but at the same time we were losing revenue as we had to pay our business partners whenever we run short and we had to take machines from the.
When our application for assets assist was approved and the machines eventually delivered, this made a lot of difference and as a results a huge ground was covered in terms of increasing staff and not being worried about buying new machines, meaning the business was more efficient in servicing our customers as we had both extra workforce and more machines to meet the growing demand.
This also had a very positive impact on our cash flow as we are now not transferring much money to our cross-hiring partners.
Asset Assist program has been very much helpful to our business and we really appreciate SEDA for their intervention in buying us the equipment. Today the business has 6 fulltime employees and 1 part-time member and the plan is to have this member fully employed before the end of the year.
