With board memberships which include Atlantis Diesel Engines, Khula, Schneider Electric, Archway, LA Crushers and Mocotex, Mashabane is the founder member of the Association of Black Accountants of Southern Africa (ABASA), and has studied the management of small business development programs locally as well as in Sweden and Japan. Serving as an internal auditor for several companies over a period of 15 years, most of his career has been with financial institutions, focusing on Black Economic Empowerment. He pioneered BEE at the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) from 1995, which to date has advanced in excess of R9 billion to black entrepreneurs. Serving within several departments at the IDC, he was also a member of the executive committee.
He has a passion for entrepreneurship and small business development, and believes the survival and prosperity of South Africa lies in creating entrepreneurs in each family - and developing a robust small business sector that will create job opportunities and help up-skill the nation - franchising being one such route.
Says Mashabane: "Homelessness has created a huge opportunity with the potential for entrepreneurship to thrive. Beyond the buying and selling of housing, opportunities arise in commercial space, furniture manufacturing, textiles, education generally, landscape management, and so on. This kind of integrated approach can play a major role in solid township revival and renewal and through our new empowerment office, we see ourselves performing beyond simply the marketing of bricks and mortar, but in making a contribution towards creating happy, healthy and productive neighbourhoods - those which will help create a vibrant and prosperous nation."
Brenda Ledwaba previously worked for the company's Pretoria office for three years as a client liaison officer, networking with various government departments and embassies in Tshwane. Incidentally, she purchased a residential property through PGP shortly before joining the company, saying she was impressed with the excellent service she received.
The new office covers the areas of Soshanguve, Mabopane, Ga-Rankuwa, Rosslyn, Rosslyn East, Temba and Hammanskraal, where price ranges of homes vary from R280 000 up to R800 000.
Says Ledwaba: "With our offices being situated close to government departments such as Justice and Constitutional Development, Environmental Affairs, Tourism, Education and SARS, we are ideally placed to provide a service to those employed there. With salary increases being given to government officials, we anticipate a surge in demand among first-time buyers, and those upgrading to larger and better homes.
"Already the bulk of our enquiries are from first-time buyers - both couples and singles - seeking homes mainly in the price range from R300 000 to R500 000. Such stock is available, mostly as building packages ie new homes - priced up to around R580 000 - in addition to existing homes, as long as these are realistically priced according to market-related demand. Buyers are becoming increasingly well informed regarding the property market and sellers need to appreciate that they will not pay unrealistic prices for homes."
She says there's a marked trend towards township residents selling up and moving into the town - to areas such as Rosslyn, which is home to major manufacturers such as BMW and SAB and which is experiencing considerable commercial activity which in turn provides a stimulus for housing demand. "As a result we are seeing an increasing number of new developments in areas such as Soshanguve and Hammanskraal - the latter which is to see the development of a new shopping complex, as well as some 4000 new homes in the pipeline for the area.
"In addition to marketing residential properties, through our association with MortgageSA, the country's leading home loans facilitator, we are able to source the best and most effective financing solutions for potential home buyers. We have also created a one-stop advisory centre whereby our clients are provided with up to date information on property registrations and historical data, trends analysis and demographic profiles," adds Ledwaba.
