Mentoring: A key intervention in small construction contractor capacity building in South Africa

During the past decade the newly democratised South Africa has achieved consistent economic growth, presently stabilised at approximately 5% per annum. This favourable economic environment is continuously stimulating development, but a lack of capacity is reflected in general skills shortages and support structures for entrepreneurial development. These problems are acutely evident in the construction industry. Government interventions, in the form of legislation, to create an enabling environment for small contractors who were disadvantaged under the pre-democratic period (pre-1994) to enter and/or progress in the construction industry (as contractors from a very low basis, commonly referred to as emerging contractors, to self-sustainable construction contractors) were made. Many attempts by different agencies to develop emerging contractors were unsuccessful, or at best produced mediocre results. It was imperative that a model had to be developed that would satisfy the objective to produce self-sustainable construction contractors. The problem researched consists of three sub-problems, being firstly to identify supportive legislation interventions, secondly to identify all possible role players that could be sourced to support the holistic/integrated development of contractors and thirdly to structure and introduce a holistic programme of which the outcomes could be measured. The nature of the problem indictated that overall project management was the management model to be followed. The Integrated Emerging Contractor Development Model was then developed and introduced for the first time in totality for the Eastern Cape Development Corporation, in conjunction with the authors, covering an entire province in South Africa. A cornerstone of this model turned out to be the role played by mentors, exceeding the normal definition of mentoring, becoming business advisory support. The constant measuring of outcomes generated quantified and qualified data throughout the 24-month programme period, which were utilised to take effective corrective measures when required. It has been concluded that the development of emerging contractors, strongly supported by mentors, is imperative to achieve success. The conclusions and recommendations resulting from this programme have received favourable comments over a wide front and it is presently under consideration as input into a national best practice intervention.