Broll Beacon - September 2007 (558.45KB)

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The secrets of Fran’s success The Cape Town Women’s Day Tea offered scrumptious treats Sylvia Maobee enjoys a break from work. The ladies - Michelle Needham, Margie Pillay, Joanne Mileham - have their cake... Women’s Day Celebration The women at Broll’s Cape Town and Johannesburg offices enjoyed the decadent Women’s Day tea parties that were organised by Dave Bennie in Cape Town and Marketing in Illovo. ‘The catering was outstanding and the women felt pampered,’ says Yvette Huysamer from Cape Town. ‘It was a treat to just relax and catch up with all the ladies in the company.’ In Johannesburg, the ladies were equally happy and felt that the event was a treat. Embracing the day - Ken Gerber, Director Marketing. ... and eat it in Johannesburg Broll does it best The Broll Foundation’s volunteer committee hands over some of the goods they collected to the New Jerusalem Children’s Home. Standing from left: Tilly Gasela, Ann Campbell, Izak Kriel, Bianca Beaumont, Nation Molele, Savita Rae, Anna Mojapelo fom New Jerusalem, Caiphus Mothapo, Dawn van den Berg. Front from left: Yvonne Behari-Ram, Riaan Lochner and an assistant from New Jerusalem. Broll’s staff pulled together to raise close on R50 000 worth of clothing and goods for donation to the New Jerusalem Children’s Home. The goods, including clothing, blankets and items essential to the effective running of the home, were handed over to co-founder Anna Mojapelo by the company’s staff at a function on Friday 31 August. ‘Staff in our Illovo head office led the way, with our national branches participating as well,’ said Tilly Gasela, head of the Broll Foundation, which leads a volunteer fundraising committee. ‘Apart from appealing for donations of clothing and blankets, we arranged the sponsorship of several prizes for a raffle. For a R20-ticket, staff stood the chance of winning a first prize of a return air ticket to any South African destination. Second prize was a dinner for two, with a confectionary hamper on offer for third prize.’ The money raised by the raffle was used to purchase pedal-operated waste disposal bins for New Jerusalem – a facility that they require by law, but were lacking. It’s not just the Broll staff that made the effort to support the Children’s Home – the company is matching their spirit with a donation of its own. ‘Our IT Department has renovated 18 personal computers, that they will give to New Jerusalem complete with the full Microsoft Office suite. They have also volunteered their time to train the New Jerusalem staff how to best use this to boost their infrastructure,’ Tilly continues. The New Jerusalem Children’s Home is in Midrand, and works with traumatised or abandoned youngsters/minors, and children who have been affected by HIV/AIDS. In its seven years of operation, it has made a difference in the lives of over 1000 children, and plans to increase its capacity from 50 people to around 120 full-time residents. Broll Properties operates a social responsibility programme across all its branches, through which staff offer their support to those in need of assistance. Beneficiaries have included various children’s homes, as well as recipients of homes built by Habitat for Humanity using funds raised by the company and staff. Tilly Gasela from Broll with Anna Mojapelo and her assistant, from the New Jerusalem Children’s Home. Just a few members of the high-powered Gauteng office broking team. From left: Fran Teagle with Jane Parker, Elza Human, Jonathan Klopper and Keke Khojane Fran Teagle’s advice to people wanting to succeed in property is, ‘be constantly proactive, network all the time and canvas on an ongoing basis. And above all, you have to be passionate about this industry and be hungry to make it work.’ Fran and her Commercial Property team in Johannesburg are a highly successful broking combination. ‘It’s a group effort,’ says Fran. ‘We have 10 brokers ranging in age from 23 to 70, which means we have a great range of personalities and consultants to suit each of our landlords’ and leasing/purchasing clients’ requirements. We’re all very focused and driven by the commission that we make, particularly the younger members of the team, eager to make their mark,’ she continues. ‘We’re particularly proud of Keke Khojane, who’s taking the Johannesburg CBD by storm, after only being with us for four months.’ Fran explains that part of their success is taking pride in providing quick service, which they do through the database they’re all committed to maintaining. ‘Every agent updates the database every day, and when a new client approaches us to find space for them, we are able to get back to them the same day with suggestions,’ says Fran, explaining the secrets of the team’s success. ‘We also spend a lot of time networking with our landlords to make sure we know what’s possible and where new opportunities are in the market. It’s vital that we’re on top of what’s happening in the business world to understand the dynamics of our clients’ businesses and to identify potential business,’ Fran continues. One of the other keys to the team’s success is its diverse range of services. Not only does its leasing portfolio extend from Johannesburg’s CBD to the West Rand, East Rand and Pretoria, but the team is active in facilitating land assemblies and new developments. ‘We identify sites that have potential for commercial development, and then facilitate the process of re-zoning. Once developers have done their work on site, we then have additional stock to add to our portfolio,’ she says. Fran started her career as a residential estate agent but soon needed a bigger challenge. After five years at Broll she is still excited by the challenges she’s presented with every day. 2 7
Do you know your status On 9 February 2007, the Government published the first official version of the Codes of Good Practice on BEE. This document provides guidelines and targets for companies wanting to achieve a BEE status. As the Property Charter is still only a draft document under discussion, the Codes – as they are known – provide the only official benchmark for companies in the property industry to be measured. ‘As a company we are fully committed to the letter and spirit of this process,’ says executive chairman Jonathan Broll. ‘While there are no penalties for not meeting the benchmarks, any business that ignores the codes will rapidly become uncompetitive in the market place.’ Companies wishing to grow with SA’s economy will need to determine their BEE score and obtain a rating from one of the approved verification agencies. Broll is currently going through this exercise. These scores will have an infl uence on how competitive that enterprise is when government or any other entity allocates any of its business. The seven core elements making up the code are; ownership, management, employment equity, skills development, preferential procurement, enterprise development and socio-economic development. ‘It’s in the areas of employment equity, skills development and preferential procurement where many of our staff can have a positive infl uence by adhering to our internal policies when recruiting and training people and purchasing goods and services. In fact, preferential procurement is a category that carries the same weight as ownership when developing a score card.’ It’s in the area of contractor allocation that Broll exercises a large procurement infl uence and with almost 6000 different suppliers this is an area under the microscope. Administered by Colleen Halford, each supplier needs to provide proof of various documentation before being approved, this includes; company registration documents with ID documents of the shareholders, SARS tax clearance certificate and other relevant statutory organisation’s certificates ie. Workman’s Compensation, insurance and banking details. Obviously, it’s best to have a prospective supplier submit and be placed on the approved list before work is actually awarded to them. According to Colleen this registration process is an important element of the company’s ISO rating obligation and employees not following the process can jeopardise this important quality benchmark. ‘Broll suppliers need not fear the implementation of the BEE Act,’ says Jonathan. ‘Small entrepreneurs with a turnover of less than R5million are exempted from the provisions while there are two categories for suppliers over that level. What’s critical to us, is that every one of our suppliers does in fact determine their own BEE score because this enables us to establish our own rating. And we need to have that as accurate as possible if we are to grow and take advantage of the dynamic property economy, which is in all of our interests!’ Broll sponsors PDP dinner Broll sponsored this year’s Property Development Programme (PDP), hosted by SAPOA. Ken Gerber (left), Marketing Director, was on hand to welcome everyone at the SAPOA PDP graduation dinner. It is a two-week course and is South Africa’s premier management programme on property finance, valuation, property law, negotiation, investment, development, marketing and management. High level delegates from all over the country attend the course to sharpen their skills and knowledge through practical instruction and case studies. Broll’s Nigerian team with seated second from left: Olubukola Lanipekun-Lawal (HR manager at Broll in Lagos), Fred Bihl (Broll consultant), Jacus Pienaar (lecturer) and Prof. Chris Cloete (course director). Broll trains in Nigeria A cornerstone of Broll’s African expansion is the education of local staff and it was with this in mind that the company conducted its first on-site training session in Lagos, Nigeria. According to course director Prof Cloete from the University of Pretoria the quality of the participants was outstanding. ‘Most of the people in the Nigerian team were graduates and some even had master’s degrees,’ he says. ‘Many of them had studied in the UK, USA and Ghana. It was a very interesting training session because of all the different property laws everyone knew about – having trained in various countries. So it was more a session of adaptation to create a common framework within which to work instead of being purely about training.’ Prof Cloete was very impressed with the high level of experience that the participants had – many worked in property development and property law overseas – before returning to Nigeria to work at Broll. ‘The team I met in Lagos was very strong and they all seemed very competent,’ says Chris. ‘They only completed their training in August so they are still in the examination process. They haven’t yet reached the stage of handing in assignments. That’s where we’ll see the proof of the training’s success.’ Overall, it was a very positive experience and Prof Cloete was happy with the commitment of the Nigerian team. Prof Cloete was in Cape Town during September for an Introduction to Property training session at the Waterfront. (Back left to right): Wesley Sissing, André Williams, Eugene Veldsman, Londi Vermeulen, Rudolph Marshall, Shasta Le Grange, Zaimodien Toefy, Gerad Davidson, Prof. Chris Cloete (course director) (Front left to right): Duonette Paton, Nhululeko Tsholetsane, Karin Merrifi eld, Sharon Dada, Evyette Graham, Feriaal Gamiet, Carina Vries, Ellen Madraymuthoo, Naleen Dilraj Chairman’s message The launch of the Broll Star Awards employee recognition programme should be a hugely exciting event for every staff member. While every employee is valued for the role they play in making this company great, there are those who regularly go above and beyond the call of duty – and we want to recognise them. The 25 finalists will be in for a real treat. In addition to the R500 cash prize each of them will receive, there is a grand prize that really is just that – a GRAND PRIZE – and that will be awarded following a live draw at the Johannesburg year-end function. One of the finalists will become the instant holder of the grand prize. Congratulations are due to Ken Gerber and the Corporate Services team for securing the contract to manage Bidserv’s national leased portfolio. Bidserv forms part of the Bidvest Group and is the holding company for wellrecognised companies like Prestige, Steiner and Magnum Shield. This is a significant achievement and should unlock opportunities for other divisions within Broll. We look forward to a long-standing relationship with them. Also worthy of mention is the performance of Fran Teagle and her team. Under her capable leadership, the Office Leasing Team has established a reputation for professionalism and service excellence, in the process becoming a dominant force in the Gauteng commercial broking market. Well done Fran. We are heading at full speed to the end of 2007; it’s been a busy year but much remains to be done. Let’s keep our eye on target and not drop the exacting standards we’ve become known for. Regards 6 3
Page 1: Martin Fitchet, MD of CBRE MAS A ye

Broll Beacon - September 2007 (558.45KB)

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