SIRDAR GLOBAL GROUP
BELINDA DOVESTON - GLOBAL EXPEDITION DEVELOPMENT
April 4th, 2012
Carl Bates’ new book, The Laws of Extreme Business Success, was recently released. This inspiring book provides invaluable advice for SMEs and business owners who are open to looking at their businesses in a whole new way.
The book takes us on a journey through the 12 Laws of Extreme Business Success, as Carl shares his visionary understanding of what SMEs need to take their business to new heights in an easy-to-read and inspiring way.
Here is a short excerpt from Law One – The Law of Ego:
The Law of Ego requires us to recognise that a business is about more than the personalities within it. It is about the purpose it promises. In business, we draw an important distinction between a craft and an enterprise. The existence of a craft depends on the active involvement of the owner because he/she represents the expertise required to keep the business going. An enterprise is a business with a promise and a structure that makes it sustainable beyond the person/s who founded or operate it. When you hold on to being the craftsman and making it all about yourself, you lose the game. To achieve success, you must move your passion from practising your craft to creating an enterprise, and understand that the enterprise is separate and distinct from YOU. This Law therefore teaches you to keep your ego in check and in balance.
Sound interesting? If you want a copy of The Laws of Extreme Business Success with a personalised message from Carl, contact Sirdar South Africa on southafrica@sirdargroup.com for more information or go to www.carlbates.com and order a copy today! To purchase the Amazon Kindle version, click on the following link: http://astore.amazon.com/sirdpres-20/detail/B005P0AM0I
Tags: Carl Bates, corporate governance, entrepreneur, Extreme business success, laws of extreme business success, SME
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SIRDAR GLOBAL GROUP
CARL BATES - MANAGING DIRECTOR SIRDAR GLOBAL GROUP,
GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE SIRDAR SOUTH AFRICA
April 4th, 2012
Financial viability is crucial for any organisation to follow its strategic objectives and meet its on-going financial obligations. Sound financial oversight by a board includes, but is not limited to, budgeting and oversight of financial performance, as well as financial reporting to stakeholders.
The board should oversee the preparation of operational budgets and regularly monitor and review the company’s financial performance.
It is important to establish performance goals for an organisation and key individuals together with a system to monitor and report on achievement against those goals. Regular monitoring of performance against strategic and business plans, budgets and other performance indicators is essential to enable the board to respond and take appropriate action in pursuit of organisational objectives. Timely and relevant reporting of financial information to the board is crucial. Reporting needs to be comprehensive enough to ensure that board members are well informed, but not too complex as to confuse the key issues being reported. The use of summaries and graphic representation should be considered. The board needs to approve an agreed format for reporting to ensure that all relevant matters are reported to it.
With regard to financial reporting to stakeholders, King III states that “the board should ensure that the company has implemented a structure of review and authorisation designed to ensure the truthful and factual presentation of the company’s financial position. The structure should include:
- review and consideration of the financial statements by the audit committee; and
- a process to ensure the independence and competence of the company’s external auditor.”
The board should include commentary on the company’s financial results in the annual financial statements. This commentary should include information to enable a stakeholder to make an informed assessment of the company’s economic value, by allowing stakeholders insight into the prospects for future value creation and the board’s assessment of the key risks which may limit those prospects. In conclusion, the board’s role with regard to financial performance is a crucial one and all board members need to ensure that they have a reasonable understanding of financial matters.
Tags: board of directors, financial performance, King III, SME
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SIRDAR SOUTH AFRICA
KERSTIN JATHO - MANAGING DIRECTOR - SIRDAR SOUTH AFRICA INVESTMENTS
April 4th, 2012
The seventh segment of the Sirdar Management Compass addresses the capital structure, investment activities and financial performance of a business. The segment covers two very fundamentally important areas in a business, namely:
- The operational management of the business’s income and expenses.
- The capital and investment structure. This often refers to the start-up capital and later turns into the value of the business.
In too many businesses insufficient attention is paid to the hard-earned rands and cents. Reviewing and understanding the financial health of your business is a necessity. A core driver in sustainability means maintaining and growing the bottom line and utilising the funds to improve current products, develop new services, invest in modern systems and technology, train employees and lastly, pay a dividend to the shareholders.
In Sirdar’s BaseCamp mentoring programme we actively work with business owners to instil and support financial discipline until it becomes a natural habit. Here are six tips which will assist any business owner in optimising operational results:
- If you are not interested in processing the financial statements, then employ or outsource this function to a person whose natural flow is numbers, details and processed. Someone with an Accumulator or Lord Wealth Dynamics profile would be a good choice. Remember, however, that you still have to understand the process.
- Allocate time on a monthly basis to review the management accounts with your bookkeeper.
- Question, scrutinise and get a clear understanding of what products and services cost, including what your percentage of profit is.
- Design a simple budget that enables you to compare the financial results achieved with the financial results predicted. Analyse your payment terms. What timeframe do you allow customers to pay in, and is this acceptable to you?
- Review the expected flow of income and expenses at the beginning of every month. Be as specific as you can to ensure that creditors, VAT and fixed expenses can be paid in full by the end of the month.
Good financial management gives insight to a business’ ethos, values and culture and enables the board to make informed and accurate decisions. Make your money in the business work as hard as you do!
Tags: Carl Bates, financial management, financial performance, SME
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SIRDAR SOUTH AFRICA
LISA GERING - REGIONAL DIRECTOR - GAUTENG, SOUTH AFRICA
April 4th, 2012
Michelle Darbyshire is a managing member of multiSEARCH Recruitment, a recruitment consulting firm that has been matching career seekers and companies for the last 21 years. multiSEARCH began its relationship with Sirdar by supplying recruitment services, and it was not long before Michelle and her partner became Sirdar clients. Michelle states, “We became interested in the Sirdar’s Elite Climber’s Club and the Wealth Dynamics tools. We decided to join the Sirdar Elite Climber’s Club not knowing what to expect, but we hoped that the shared concepts would enable and empower us to optimise all the areas of our business.”
Michelle had the following to say about her experience of the Sirdar Elite Climber’s Club: “Through the Sirdar Elite Climber’s Club process, my partner and I really focused on defining our products and services, as well as realising our positioning in the market place. When we looked at getting our message to the market, we categorised our customers and revamped our sales strategy. We really found value in evaluating our team to ensure that we had the right people in the right place, and have refined our processes to allow for more measurement, stats and delivery results. The Sirdar Elite Climber’s Club has definitely highlighted the need for us to identify and counteract the risks in all areas of our business, as well as understand our financial business model and forecasting for business and revenue growth. I believe that the Sirdar Elite Climber’s Club adds immense value to SME owners who have sound business acumen, but need guidance in identifying, unpacking, streamlining and maintaining operational areas within their businesses which often don’t receive the attention they should.”
Michelle and her partner have since implemented several new initiatives in their business, including rigorous cost cutting, updating of their customer database, focusing on key accounts and building a more collaborative team to ensure sustainable results and commitment. Michelle highly recommends the Sirdar Elite Climber’s Club to other business owners and states, “It gives you a lot of value in different operational areas. The more involved you are in the Sirdar Elite Climber’s Club, the more value will be derived from the case studies and the knowledge sharing that happens with the other delegates during the course.”
Tags: Sirdar Elite Climbers Club, SME, wealth dynamics
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SIRDAR SOUTH AFRICA
GEORGE ZACHARIAS - SIRDAR LEGAL
April 4th, 2012
Once the business model of an enterprise is refined and the business is able to achieve sustainable liquidity and profitability, the board of directors should focus on optimising the financial performance of the business. This is achieved by ensuring that aspects such as the current share structure and the amount of third party borrowings the enterprise has or could undertake are optimal for the current stage of development of the business. The optimisation of financial performance has a number of legal consequences which should be identified and considered simultaneously. The Sirdar Legal Compass, a management tool which has been developed to assist owners and directors of SMEs to ensure that an enterprise focuses on each element of legal management, highlights the role that legal expertise plays in reducing the various risks posed to an enterprise through its financial activities. It includes aspects such as ensuring the implementation of all agreements relating to the capitalisation of the business, for example, share sale agreements, shareholder and third party loan agreements.
Another crucial risk minimisation area related to the capitalisation and financial activities of an enterprise is the measurement of the current and future solvency and liquidity of the enterprise. The Companies Act requires the conducting of a Solvency and Liquidity test in specified instances relating to the capitalisation of the business as well as aspects such as the declaration of dividends and distributions to shareholders. An understanding of the requirements of the Companies Act relating to the solvency and liquidity of a business prior to and after any significant financial activities is therefore crucial for the owners, directors and executive management of all SMEs. Legal advice should be sought prior to any activity which seeks to optimise the financial performance of an enterprise.
In order for an enterprise to grow on a sustainable profitable basis the optimisation of financial performance is a necessary development stage for the enterprise. If this is to be successfully achieved the minimisation of all related financial risks should be fully understood and considered by the board of directors and management prior to all financing activities as the optimisation of financial performance is directly linked to the ability of the business to minimise financial risks.
Tags: Companies Act, financial performance, George Zacharias, Sirdar Legal
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SIRDAR SOUTH AFRICA
JANINE SMITH - EXPEDITION SERVICES MANAGER
February 28th, 2012
Please be advised that our Cape Town Expedition Base will be moving on 1 March 2012.
Our new base will be situated at Unit 3, First floor, 3 Waterview Close, Century City Boulevard, Century City, 7446.
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SIRDAR SOUTH AFRICA
LISA GERING - REGIONAL DIRECTOR - GAUTENG, SOUTH AFRICA
February 28th, 2012
If you want to grow your business, do not miss out on the following events.
| Date |
Title of talk |
City |
Time |
Read More/Register |
| 1 Mar |
How to be an Effective Business Owner |
Pretoria |
07:00 –09:30 |
gerhardbarnard@sirdargroup.com |
| 7-9 Mar |
Sirdar Business Summit |
Pretoria |
17:30 – 21:30
09:00 –19:00
09:00 –16:30 |
gerhardbarnard@sirdargroup.com |
| 15 Mar |
How to be an Effective Business Owner |
Bloemfontein |
07:00 –9.30 |
gerhardbarnard@sirdargroup.com |
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SIRDAR SOUTH AFRICA
LISA GERING - REGIONAL DIRECTOR - GAUTENG, SOUTH AFRICA
February 28th, 2012
We would like to welcome the newest additions to the Sirdar Group – Estelle Murray and Janine Smith.
Estelle Murray
Estelle has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. She has over 20 years of experience in the private education sector, during which time she served as lecturer, marketer, course writer and principal. She has worked in various business sectors including publishing, tourism and finance. Estelle has a strong background in administration and operations, hands-on management experience, as well as a strong sales and marketing background and understanding.
Estelle joined Sirdar in 2011 because she believes in Sirdar’s vision of assisting SMEs to grow and improve profitability. She currently works as a governance panel administrator at Sirdar South Africa, Cape Town. She is passionate about the connection between a good governance panel director, the enterprise, and the difference this connection can make to SMEs. Estelle’s extensive expertise within a variety of challenging business environments enables her to assist with the implementation of governance in SMEs by connecting the goals of the board with the community as well as the individual. She believes that with training and commitment, these goals are within everyone’s reach.
Janine Smith
Janine has a LLB (Hons) degree and has completed various postgraduate examinations including in Business Law, Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution, Advanced Commercial Litigation, Commercial Law, Taxation, Professional Conduct and Regulation and several others. She is an accredited assessor with the Transport Education Training Authority (TETA), a facilitator for skills such as customer service and communication, and is currently working towards completing an Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) qualification. Over the last 26 years, Janine has gained both local and international experience in commercial law, property, employment, company secretarial functions, energy resources, corporate law, management, training and development. She has excellent interpersonal communication skills, organisational agility and exceptional management and accountancy skills.
Janine chose to join Sirdar in 2011 because she wanted to work for an organisation whose guiding principles and ethos mirrored her own, providing her with the opportunity to work in an environment where she can make a difference. She works as an expedition services manager at Sirdar South Africa in Cape Town. Janine is passionate about governance and the structures it provides, as well as the growth and development that results when SMEs embrace the governance process. She strives to provide Sirdar’s clients with excellent service in their governance journey and pursuit of Extreme Business Success.
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