Malani Padayachee and Associates is an engineering consulting firm whose head offices are based in Johannesburg, Gauteng and regional offices in KZN and Western cape.
The company was founded by Malani Padayachi-Saman shortly after spending a year working in the United Kingdom and upon realizing that the qualifications she had from South Africa had actually prepared her to tackle any engineering challenges.
Padayachee who is an entrepreneur had obtained a bursary in her third and fourth years of study and therefore had a service obligation on graduation. Starting NPA was a challenge for her especially in securing new clients. Most of the company’s clients are in the public sector. This was not the choice but rather a result of market forces as the private sector market was closed to new entries.
Her organisation’s views on entrepreneurship are quite strong and in line with a global view that in order to grow an economy, focus should be on supporting the SME sector. NPA’s concern is that South Africa has a host of support structures focused on start-ups and micro enterprises and very little or no support exists for the SME sector.
Padayachee-Saman also holds a view that on tax incentives for the SME sector. She proposes establishing serious tax incetives for any entity that is creating jobs. In terms of other support systems for entrepreneurs in general, Padayachee-Saman suggests establishing programmes that are more supportive rather than insisting on skills development in areas that can be secured through retainers.