One of the most relevant non-core considerations for contracting businesses hoping to work on larger projects or securing SOE business is localisation. Supplier development and localisation, or SD&L, can be a difficult fulfilment, especially if your company doesn’t have a footprint in the proposed area, or you do speciality work and bring your own equipment and workforce on site (without making use of what is available locally). The most obvious obstacle is, of course, to secure local, qualified suppliers. One of the less obvious ways to support local businesses is through the procurement of less specialised products and services. The easiest and quickest way to make headway is by using local unskilled or semi-skilled labour. Employing local people helps but doesn’t really speak to supplier development. For supplier development, your company must prove that it buys some goods and services locally. Accommodation, meals and laundry services can be sourced and procured locally and is a great way to support local businesses. Unfortunately, vendors and suppliers in the hospitality industry, especially industrial hospitality, may sometimes not qualify under the definition of local supplier development.
An easy way to ensure that you can allocate all hospitality procurement spend to SD&L, is through a contract with iLodge in the region where you intend to work. At iLodge we have a very unique approach to SD&L, an approach endorsed by SOEs and international companies. We have developed a network of Local Participation Trusts, which hold a majority share in the local iLodge operational company. By contracting iLodge to provide accommodation, meals and laundry services, your company is procuring directly from a level 2 B-BBEE supplier, that is local to the workplace.
Level 2 means we have 125% B-BBEE procurement recognition. The Local Participation Trusts benefit from your business with the local iLodge operational company in that dividends declared by the company are received by the Trust and distributed directly to beneficiaries who do business in the hospitality, food or tangent industries. Through this system, you are guaranteed that all money spent on project hospitality will count towards SD&L targets. You will also be assured that the vendors and service providers used are local suppliers best suited to your needs, and that profits derived from your procurement of hospitality-related services, are reinvested in smaller local businesses that may not yet be suitable vendors but show the determination and potential to become fully fledged through continued support. All the benefits listed, are of course, in addition to the great service and seamless integration you will experience when you contract iLodge to manage offsite services for your next project.
