Six Cape startups equipped with HR skills graduate from TenaCiti programme

A Cape Town HR programme has helped six startups and their respective recruits to improve their human-resource management processes and up their level of professionalism.

The second cohort of TenaCiTi , a skills programme run by the Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi) in partnership with #CoCreateSA, an initiative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, has just wrapped up. The cohort was launched in February.

Read more: TenaCiTi to enhance junior recruits for small businesses

William Hurst, a developer and partner of startup Zero Zero One says programmes such as TenaCiTi should almost be a “requirement” as it “smooths off so many rough edges”.

“Stuff that people don’t always know when they walk in on the first day, like how do you talk to a client, what it means when you miss a deadline and you don’t tell anybody — all those little things that are never really spoken about and you’re just expected to learn.”

The graduates of the 2017 cohort are:

• AppShed Limited and their recruit Siphiwo Matoane
• Bettech Gaming and Thato Mothebe
• Innovo Networks and Vuyisanani Ndlazi
• Kinetic Skunk IT Solutions and Aphiwe Mpambani
• uGoMyWay and Sipho Ndimande
• Zero Zero One and Wanda Nkuhlu

As much as the programme helped the company’s and its recruits, it has also had an effect on managers and owners.

“It developed myself as the leader to adapt and change… I have changed to make sure that I have systems and processes in place,” said Damien Michael, founder of Innovo Networks.

‘Programmes such as TenaCiTi should almost be a ‘requirement’ for startups’

“The second thing is that it also developed the morale and the motivation for the intern that was on the programme. It got him to clearly understand his roles and responsibilities and to take action.

“The third thing is after I’ve put the systems and processes in place, each employee from an HR perspective understands where they’re going and what they need to do, what their roles and responsibilities are,” said Michael.

Chris Megan, co-founder of uGoMyWay, commented on the importance of good HR processes which TenaCiTi has made a point of emphasising.

“I think everything they’re (TenaCiTi) doing from a junior recruit view is completely valid. For a very small organisation, you might struggle to embrace those issues that are taught to you as you start to grow.”