Into the big league

The Loftus Versfeld stadium needed refurbishment as South Africa prepares to host the FIFA World Cup™ next year. We talked to an entrepreneur who won the contract.

Having started out building low cost houses in 1996, founder and CEO of Homeless Building and Construction, Joseph Tshawe has built his company into one of the most successful black-owned construction companies in the country.  He’s no stranger to working on big construction projects, having constructed magistrates courts, police stations and prisons, but Tshawe was ecstatic when he was awarded a R55 million contract to help refurbish the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria for the 2010 FIFA® World Cup.

“The excitement soon wore off because I couldn’t raise the R5,4 million needed for the performance guarantees. I also needed money to buy building supplies and to pay my workers upfront so work could begin,” says Tshawe. “Without the money, I risked losing the contract.”

He applied to a number of financial institutions, but with only a flat in Johannesburg to offer as collateral, he was turned away by all the banks he approached.  “That’s when I applied to the IDC for funding and my luck changed,” he says.

The IDC was also helpful in terms of assisting me to identify new opportunities for growth.

“I was able to deliver on the contract and have subsequently been awarded more work on the site,” says Tshawe.  The additional work will take his gross revenue from the Loftus Stadium contract to more than R100 million.

Left to right – Foreman, Quantity Surveyor, Mr Joseph Tshawe (CEO, Homeless Building and Construction), Dhiren Govan (IDC), Phokwane Moloele (IDC) and Sicelo Sikakane (IDC) 

Tshawe says the IDC not only provided funding, but also business advice such as risk analysis.  “The IDC was also helpful in terms of assisting me to identify new opportunities for growth,” he says. 

IDC account manager in the 2010! And Construction SBU, Phokwane Moloele says the deal will have a developmental impact – creating a black-owned construction company that can compete against some of the country’s established big players as well as create more jobs in the sector. Homeless Building and Construction now employs 500 people at any given time, with more than 250 new jobs created on the stadium’s site alone.  

“We’re now focusing on winning more tenders,” says Tshawe.  “Homeless Building and Construction is now able to play in the big league!”