South African Institute of Chartered Accountants Enterprise Development (SAICA ED) has partnered with diversified miner Anglo American’s development fund Anglo American Zimele to implement a financial excellence programme that will support 66 small-, medium-sized, and microenterprises (SMMEs) within the mining sector.

The programme aims to improve SMMEs’ financial management systems to run effective operations and create business sustainability. Anglo American Zimele approached SAICA ED for a collaborative and customed financial excellence programme to assist with supporting two cohorts of SMMEs from its Kumba Iron Ore and Anglo American Platinum operations.

The 12-month programme is now under way and will focus on financial excellence. Through this intervention, Zimele hopes to achieve several objectives, including developing financially savvy SMMEs through finance coaching, receiving credible and up-to-date management reporting systems, accounting and back-office support as well as playing an active role in rebuilding sustainable businesses. SAICA ED is part of the Learning and Development division of SAICA.

It runs enterprise and supplier development programmes – particularly focusing on black-owned initiatives – intending to grow the SMME entrepreneurial ecosystem for greater sustainability.

Established in 1989, Zimele is Anglo American’s capacity and enterprise development programme looking after a range of economic development activities including training and supporting mining SMMEs. For over 30 years, Zimele has helped to fund over 3 700 SMMEs and supported more than 61 000 jobs.

“Partnering with SAICA ED is one of the interventions that we are implementing to support enterprises from our host communities with practical tools and SMME essential services to enable them to stand on their own two feet and participate in the economy meaningfully. “This will not only help them deal with financial management issues, but it forms part of the broader enterprise and supplier development work that will assist beneficiaries in dealing with pertinent business challenges that may be identified as part of the coaching process,” says Anglo American Zimele head Larisha Naidoo.

The Zimele and SAICA ED partnership will assist with and implement the following components:

• financial deep dive process;

• finance coaching for the SMMEs with SAICA associated small and medium-sized enterprises;

• accounting and back-office support to SMMEs;

• finance boot camps; and

• monitoring and evaluation of the impact of the financial excellence programme on

SMME performance.

All SMMEs will be tracked in their business development and growth against the initial financial deep dive. This will be achieved by establishing solid financial recordkeeping practices and coaching the entrepreneur in financial management systems and effective cash flow processes.

“With a continuous passion to see development and transformation in South Africa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, SAICA ED is very excited to further its reach in the mining sector through this strategic partnership with Anglo American Zimele. We look forward to a fruitful season of high impact and seeing the SMMEs on the programme becoming financially excellent,” SAICA ED CEO Annie McWalter adds.