The Rawson Property Group, says Bill Rawson, the Chairman, has for at least two decades been a frontrunner in the training and employment of previously disadvantaged managers and, more recently, franchisees.
Recently Njabulo Nkonyane, who runs the Rawson Properties franchise for Mondeor and works across a territory that also covers Naturena, Winchester Hills, Suideroord and Allanmanor '“ with some five or six mandates operating at any one time in Soweto as well '“ was asked to clarify for Rawson directors the challenges a black agent is likely to have to face.
Nkonyane is a former University of the Witwatersrand lecturer in maths. He has, says Sean McCauley, Rawson Properties Regional Manager for Gauteng, built up a team that has always performed above expectations. As a result, he has received Rawson Property Group awards for both the number of units sold and the number of sole mandates signed up.
'His team members have been able to earn a good living from selling property, support their families and contribute to their society,' said McCauley.
The main challenge facing a person such as himself moving into property, says Nkonyane, is often a lack of business and administrative experience.
'As an academic and maths specialist it might be assumed that I had somehow acquired business skills - but this was not so,' said Nkonyane. 'From the start I found that selling was no problem at all, but I was seriously challenged by the amount of time and effort required on the administrative side, for example, communicating with attorneys and the regional office. Getting to grips with this has been taxing'
The same problem, says Nkonyane, was encountered more seriously among his staff.
'Many of them had never worked in any sort of commercial or business operation,' he said. 'Even a simple concept like a sales mandate had to be explained again and again'
The two week introductory training course followed by six weeks of field training and the ongoing weekly training provided by the Rawson Property Group, added Nkonyane, have made a very big difference and have given his staff the confidence that they needed - but these aids had to be supplemented by daily advice and training from himself.
'You cannot leave people to battle when they do not have experience in these matters,' he said.
Like employers elsewhere, Nkonyane has also found that it can be difficult to get rid of a non-performer. His experience so far, however, has been that the good staff do tend to stay on and eventually the inadequate leave '“ to his relief. As a result, the quality of his team, he said, has been improving all the time.
'The strong demand for housing now coming from the lower middle class should result in his sector of the market continuing to boom despite the downturn being experienced elsewhere,' said Nkonyane.
'The emerging middle class understands only too well the value of property as an asset and is determined to get on the bandwagon'
Nkonyane is, therefore, going into 2008 with confidence and is fairly certain that by the middle of 2009 he will have been able to double up his sales force and extend his territory further. It is quite possible, adds McCauley, that he could in time take on an additional franchise.
'What has happened to Njabulo,' says McCauley, 'is what happens to all good franchisees. He has picked up a passion for property and is prepared to devote very long hours to the business and to give real service. This augurs very well for his operation'
