The new Siyakhula Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) Portal is here!!! 2020 Insight was commissioned by Barloworld Siyakhula to work with selected Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) that qualify to be on-boarded as Siyakhula beneficiaries. Being a Siyakhula beneficiary brings with it different lifelines for many SMMEs such as financial assistance, marketing support, mentoring support and a host of other lifelines required to stay afloat as a SMME. A division of the Barloworld Group, Barloworld Siyakhula has benefitted many SMMEs belonging to diverse industry backgrounds.

For 2020 Insight, the process for onboarding new beneficiaries has been particularly interesting due to the new ESD Portal which kicked-off in February 2021 with new beneficiaries officially on-boarded in March 2021. This onboarding process has been designed to be seamless as it allows beneficiaries to be in control of the documentation they submit, therefore putting the power squarely in their hands. There are no grey areas, inadequate documentation means an incomplete application and therefore, compliance and full submission of documents gives all beneficiaries a fair chance at approval.

The Portal will be used as a document repository in which beneficiaries may update all the requested documents onto the system, allowing the Siyakhula management access to those documents, thereby permitting informed decision making to take place. Management may also use the system to draw reports for audit purposes. With existing and active beneficiaries uploaded by the systems Administrators, specifically designed Induction sessions were organised for all new beneficiaries.

Thus far the user experience has been varied with some finding the system easy to use and others finding it complicated. Whatever the experience, support is always offered by the team and is available via an interactive web Chat. Due to the delayed nature of the documents requested, many see the process as long an arduous but as they say, “the devil is in the detail.

The typical user experience has found older beneficiaries struggling more than the younger techno savvy ones.

Upon completion of uploading the documents, the team is able to conduct a Diagnostic assessment which is currently manual, with the vision of automating it. This will result in quicker turnaround times. Despite this new process being long, it has been designed to eliminate the waste and improve process efficiencies.

Standby while Siyakhula “kicks it up a notch”, after all, it’s about the good of the people!

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