20th Anniversary of the Power Group

BEE Sector: Rating of 4 – Silver Arrow Award.

Corporate Governance Sector: Rating of 4 – Silver Arrow Award.

Education Sector: Rating of 4 – Diamond Arrow Award (rated highest in sector)

Environmental Care Sector: Rating of 3.71– Finalist Certificate

Job Creation and Training Sector: Rating of 4.18– Diamond Arrow Award (rated highest in sector)

Primary Healthcare Sector: Rating of 4 – Golden Arrow Award.

Social Upliftment Sector: Rating of 4.29– Golden Arrow Award.

War against Crime: Rating of 4.20 – Diamond Arrow Award (rated highest in sector)

February 2004

Power Group emPowered through caring

As a further demonstration of its commitment to the well-being of the environment and the communities in which it operates, the Power Group of Companies has been honoured with four PMR Corporate Care awards, also known as the emPower or Corporate Social Investment awards, during 2003.

The group received two Category Trophies for Job Creation and Training and Environmental Care, for the highest rated organisation overall (across all industries). Furthermore, it was rated the Industry Winners in the categories of Black Economic Empowerment and Social Upliftment.

For the second consecutive year, the Power Group was awarded for its efforts in Environmental Care, whilst engaged in construction activities. The Group has achieved success with “environmental friendly construction” contracts at Thesen Islands, Pezula Golf Estate, Brackenridge as well as Sparrebosch Clifftop Estate & Country Club, Big Bay in Cape Town and the various road contracts they are engaged in, nationally.

The Power Group has formalised the value it places on caring for the environment in a Corporate Environmental Policy, which has, as its key priorities, performance with regard to the core elements of environmental management and facilitation of employee environmental awareness, which includes stakeholders and research activities.
The accolade for Job Creation and Training honours the awarding of bursaries to students and employees, the development of employees, skills training programmes, efforts to avoid retrenchments, and the development of new job opportunities. The Group places a strong focus on community development through the employment and training of local community members in Labour Intensive Programmes.
The Group is closely linked to the labour-intensive construction initiative, as well as strategies for the promotion of emerging contractors.

Three Empowerment Joint Ventures that are part of the Group, bear testimony to this:

Hughmic Construction formed in 1997, in the Western Cape; Sibakhulu Construction in 1998 in the Eastern Cape and Khayalethu Projects with Power Developments in 2003.
“The partnership entered into 6 years ago between ourselves and the Power Group of Companies, is a reflection of their belief in the potential of the people and their ability to aid new opportunities. We believe that the foundation we have laid, will enable our successors to continue building and maintaining the relationship with the Group” says Dumisa Mcetywa, MD of Sibakhulu Construction in Port Elizabeth.

The Group has followed a holistic approach to Corporate Social Investment. Various projects, communities and charitable organisations receive regular support from the Group.

The Group is actively involved in the National Day of prayer in which all 58 African countries prayed for the continent on 2 May 2004. The Group took the position and made a commitment to establish and implement an HIV/AIDS Corporate Strategy and workplace programme. We serve our communities through a variety of projects such as support for festivals and the collection of funds for the disabled and underprivileged.
The Corporate Care awards identify companies that are not only in business for business-sake, but are also "doing the right things", caring for their staff, their communities and for South Africa – a definition that fits the Power Group admirably.

April 2004

THE POWER GROUP OF COMPANIES

21 YEARS OF THE POWER WAYS
Tackling the challenges to reach the peak

Today, the Power Group is one of the largest unlisted companies in the industry in South Africa. Managing Director André du Preez recalls some of the highs and lows that have marked the Group’s rise to success over the past 21 years.

“Setbacks have been our mentor. Hitches and challenges have helped us to discover inner strengths. And when everything has gone smoothly, we have found encouragement and motivation to strive harder, towards even greater success.

Fortunately, our many achievements over 21 years greatly outweigh the obstacles. And thanks to these highlights and milestones, Power has managed to buck the trend during the industry’s continual process of downscaling over two challenging decades.

A healthy body of workers

While lay-offs have been the order of the day for most of our competitors, we have never retrenched a single person due to lack of work. We have always felt positive about the future.

I believe the strength of our leadership team, together with a dedicated and passionate workforce, has largely contributed to our successes. The ability to read the trends of the industry and position ourselves ahead of our competitors, has created many opportunities that others may have missed.

“The ability to read the trends of the industry and position ourselves ahead of our competitors, has created many opportunities that others may have missed.”

A sense of belonging

Our passion towards the training and development of our people has been instrumental in creating an organisation that is uncompromising in standards. Our culture reinforces our absolute pride in what we do. It underpins our caring and the support we extend towards one another. Our work ethic is a major strength; the envy of many a competitor.

Various milestones have provided challenges to our staff, thus providing growth opportunities needed to build competencies, which were so sorely needed in a declining industry.

The first was obviously the vision that Graham Power had that day in April 1983 when he decided to start up a company with precious few resources. [See separate story herewith.]

The successes start adding up

Then in 1987, we were awarded a few hefty contracts. On completion, these projects gave us much confidence and enabled us to become players in the "major league”. One thinks of Plattekloof, which required a R2 million turnover in eight weeks (at that time, an almost impossible task). Also, the N1 City roads and services, and the Strandfontein Village roads and services. During this time, our turnover doubled every year for the first five years. The company was then known as Power Construction, later as Power West Cape.

In 1990, we opened an office in George. Paul Thiart was relocated and our first regional office, Power South Cape, was established. Since then, Power Coastal has grown from strength to strength.

Projects include Brackenridge Private Residential Estate in Plettenberg Bay, the servicing of 4 000 plots in the Thembalethu township in George (both Power Developments projects) and roads and services to Sparrebosch Golf Estate in Knysna. The most recent project and flagship of the Group in the area, is the Thesen Islands on the Knysna Lagoon.

Eastern challenges and achievements

In 1995, we opened another regional office, this time in the Eastern Cape. Jacques du Preez was relocated to Port Elizabeth. Under the late Vaughn Forrester-Jones, he began operating Power Construction Eastern Cape.

The economic climate in the Cape was pretty bleak at the time and, following the success of the South Cape decentralisation, the intention was to provide the same opportunity to Jacques and a few of his people who went with him. They faced extreme challenges, where all the listed companies had moved their offices from the Eastern Cape to Gauteng, due to lack of work.

Their first major contract was to build 2 000 schools throughout the greater Eastern Cape and Transkei. This project was the largest ever tackled by the company; a huge logistical challenge. Nevertheless, it was successfully completed within the contract period.

In October 2000, Power Construction Eastern Cape was awarded the roads and services contract for the R30 million Emfuleni Casino in Port Elizabeth – at that stage a very large contract for the area. Louwtjie Louw and Francois Voigt were sent from Cape Town to assist, until completion of the earthworks. It was also then that Glenville Cullum was moved to the Eastern Cape as director of the area and to set up a regional tender department.

Power Developments has played a critical role in sustaining Power’s presence in the Eastern Cape, by bringing fruition to the Government's promise of housing for all, through the Provincial subsidy scheme.

Taming the West

Back in the Western Cape, things started picking up nicely during 1996 with the Saldanha Steel project. Century City commenced the following year.

At Saldanha, we built the construction village – a R22 million contract providing accommodation for 4 000 people. It included admin offices, mess halls, recreation centres, and so on. The accommodation units spanned 80 000 m³ of floor area. They were completed within five months, together with all the roads and services! This project was executed through Power Developments. We were also involved in the earthworks for the main project.

The contract of the Century

At the same time, Century City kicked off with its first project – a bulk earthworks contract together with the main access road to the value of R6,5 million. Power was awarded the contract. This was the beginning of what ultimately turned out to be R200 million worth of work, completed in less than 2 years. The prestigious project entailed about 3,5 million cubic metres of earthmoving, concrete and gabion canal edges, roads and services, parking areas, platforms and services for the shopping centre later to be called Canal Walk. Furthermore, it included the provision of earthworks, canals and services to the Theme Park, today called Ratanga Junction. The project also covered the Sable Road contract, a R50 million interchange over the N1, in consortium with Murray & Roberts. And the same team completed the CD Road contract, the main access off the N1 into Canal Walk.

All of these projects were executed within tremendous time constraints, where nightshifts, continuous weekend work and many long hours were needed to meet deadlines. The people involved were Louwtjie Louw, André Zandberg, Clint Evans along with many of our site agents. In fact, at one time we had in excess of 100 major items of plant and 11 different contracts being worked on simultaneously. The turnover for one of the months totalled R17 million on the project!

Homes, homes, homes

During 1990 to 2000, Power Construction became known in the industry as the largest provider of township infrastructure in the country. Various persons were responsible for this achievement. Projects include Khayelitsha, Lwandle, Philippi, Gugulethu, Crossroads and Wallacedene, the Government subsidy scheme at the time.

More upmarket projects include Zandkloof, Westlake, the V&A Waterfront and Somerset Mall in the Western Cape, as well as Pearl Valley, the prestigious Golf Estate in Franschhoek, and Big Bay in Bloubergstrand.

The largest subsidy scheme project ever undertaken by Government was the 6 000 serviced erven and houses in Delft. This project was managed by Power Developments and completed in less than 12 months for the civils.

Empowering more people

Hughmic Construction was formed during 1997, when Channo Hughes and Abel Michel became equal partners in an Empowerment Company with Channo as the Managing Director.

Their first major works was in the Ratanga Junction project in 1998, where they had to work really hard to establish themselves in the Group. From humble beginnings, they have proved to be a formidable outfit where development is the major buzzword. They were the first emerging company in the Group and have earned the respect of all in the group and the industry at large. Some of their projects include the Boschenmeer Golf and Country Estate, where they completed 6 of the 7 phases; roads and services for Du Noon township, along with 25% of the work at Delft. Louwtjie Louw and, more recently, Francois Voigt have ably supported them over time.

Growing great

Sibakhulu Construction was formed in 1998 during another emerging partnership, this time in the Eastern Cape. Sibakhulu Construction ("we are great") was structured in the same way as Hughmic Construction, with Dumisa Mcetywa as Managing Director, together with Mthiwabo (Mike) Ndube, Glenville Cullum and Jacques du Preez as directors.

The first three years was a slow process of capacity building with low work volumes making it difficult to generate much growth. However, the industry has started to lift its head in the Eastern Cape, which has provided the opportunities required for growth. For that reason Power East Cape was sold to Sibakhulu Construction at the end of 2002 and is now operating as Construction.

Sibakhulu’s current workload is phenomenal. Projects include the bulk excavation of 5 million m³ to the harbour basin at Coega; Neptune Road, a major access road into the Industrial Development Zone from Coega Harbour; and Fairview, a major township in PE worth in excess of R30 million.

Milestones for Roads

Another milestone was when Blitz Asphalt (started in 1988 as an internal paving company, and run by Dieter Vietze) grew to be one of the top specialised surfacing contractors operating in the Cape. Blitz had completed some rehabilitation projects in rural areas, such as Kokstad and various other local Authority projects like Vissershok Road and the N7 rehab for PAWC in JV. The local annual tenders still provide the company with important work in this market. In 2002 it was decided to combine the then Blitz teams with the management and plant resources of the rural roads team in the West Cape who had completed Sable Road, Mossel Bay N2 rehab and Hanover on the N1 for SANRAL. The company underwent a name change to Power Roads.

The management team consists of Dieter Vietze, Louwtjie Louw, Poens Venter, Percy Knight, Clint Evans and Deon Ferreira, together with their site agents.

It’s all about people

Looking back at these milestones one can see the impact that they have had one the growth and development of our people.

The other important factors determining our future is our aggressive student programme where we are passionate about our Employment Equity goals as well as the exposure we offer these individuals to grow. Developing our future leaders is also a major challenge and we believe that we have the talent in our organisation to take the group to even greater heights. As far as is practical, we develop from within, creating opportunities for our loyal workforce.

Looking ahead

We are really positive regarding the economic outlook for South Africa and the Civil Industry and we feel that for the foreseeable future, there will be sufficient work to ensure steady growth, development and employment.

Lastly we have a wonderful relationship with all our clients and would like to thank them for their continued loyalty and confirm that we will always strive to go the extra mile and exceed their expectations.”
People – not plant – represent the Power of Success

says Group CEO, Graham Power

“What sets our organization apart from other companies? It’s a question I have often been asked.

Firstly the people relationships in the organisation are very special, and love and care for each other is undoubtedly the key to our success.

Measure for success

I also believe our success hinges on the benchmarking of all operations, where we set goals for hourly or daily productivity. This process is transparent and our people know where the break-even point is, in whatever they do. This encourages the continuous improving of yesterday’s productivity and keeps work life stimulating and exciting.
To complement this system of goal-setting, we have devised The Power Ways, a guideline for the way in which we conduct our business. This, together with our company values and mission, guides our people clearly and steadily in our quest to be the industry leader.

Creating satisfied clients, creating jobs

Stemming from my involvement as Chairman of the National Commission for Labour Intensive Construction from 1990 to 1997, and the negotiation of a framework agreement with labour organisations, job creation has always been a priority for the Power Group. We have very strong labour initiatives in place and have directly and indirectly provided jobs for tens of thousands of people, particularly as part of the many affordable housing projects.

Another key to our ability to grow at such a rapid rate, is our student training programme. This initiative has always had an aggressive empowerment angle, even long before it was expected by our communities or prescribed by government. Year on year, those students have been employed within the Group and today more than 83% of our labour force is black South Africans.
It gives me great satisfaction to witness the personal growth of so many of our staff. We have numerous examples of people who started with us as labourers or junior clerks, who have grown and excelled to become stars in our company and who have developed and gone through all the different rankings and responsibilities to where they are today - in charge of teams, departments and even companies. One such example is Glenville Cullen who is a director and shareholder of Sibakhulu Construction, and who joined me straight after school as a clerk.

“People who started with us as labourers or junior clerks… have grown and excelled to become stars in our company.”

Our relationships with our clients have been an integral part of our ability to grow, and in most cases when working with private clients, we strive to become their number one choice for repeat projects.

We are very conscious of our social responsibility. We like to get involved in the communities in which we work, often in extremely disadvantaged areas. Against this background, it was an honour to receive recognition from our community with the Helderberg Afrikaanse Sakekamer Award as Businessman of the Year in 2002.
Many awards followed, more recently in the form of kudos from Professional Management Review.
As a further demonstration of our commitment to the well-being of the environment and the community, the Group was honoured in 2003 with four PMR Corporate Care awards, also known as the emPower or Corporate Social Investment awards.
One of the trophies recognises the Group’s contribution towards Environmental Care another acknowledges the significant advances made by Power in Job Creation and Training. Furthermore, the Group walked off with two Industry Winner awards - one for Black Economic Empowerment, the other for Social Upliftment.
Another important aspect is our active involvement in Transformation Africa. Through a spiritual revival, I am convinced that Africa, which is often referred to as the ‘dark continent’, with all the negative sentiments of poverty, unemployment, crime and corruption, prostitution, drug and alcohol abuse and HIV/Aids, will see a major turn-around. I firmly believe God has a plan for Africa, and that we have a role to play in the Transformation of our continent.