Introduction
Kayamandi Development Services (Pty) Ltd is a SMME company of development economists and planners, established in 1999, which provides multi-disciplinary services pertaining to all aspects of social, socio-economic and economic development.

Background
This 70% HDI owned company (55% Black and 15% women), has a level 2 B-BBEE rating and is registered on the Central Supplier Database (CSD) of National Treasury (registration number: MAAA 000 1760).

The company renders services to a diverse range of clients with equal success including national, provincial & local government, NGO's and the private sector. The qualified and professional workforce, with over 20 years of experience, ensures that the most recent thoughts, trends and techniques in development planning are applied according to the client's needs.

Company core business
The company’s products and services cover the entire spectrum of urban and rural development planning and cover the following field of expertise:

• Project management: The company is uniquely equipped to deliver project management services pertaining to all aspects of urban and rural development for public and private entities
• Demographic and future population modelling: Kayamandi has intensive knowledge on the interrelationship between population and development variables to enable future modelling.
• Economic development: Kayamandi identifies supply and demand factors to assess market opportunities based on gaps between existing and potential levels of development in a region.
• Impact assessments: Kayamandi undertakes various impact assessments including: social, socio-economic, economic, tourism, land use impacts, etc.
• Social development: Socio-economic development studies undertaken are fundamentally aimed at upgrading living conditions and include: socio-economic surveys and livelihood characteristics, social analysis and development, poverty alleviation, and land reform.
• Tourism development: through applied and relevant research, Kayamandi has developed a detailed understanding of the marketplace and the factors that drive demand for tourism products and experiences. Focus areas: audits, master plans, strategies, business plans, etc.
• Property analysis and feasibilities: Kayamandi is equipped to undertake: residential demand, industrial & commercial demand: retail, office, logistics, and filling stations.
• Housing analysis: Kayamandi has in-depth knowledge in the housing and human settlements field and has the following expertise: housing demand and affordability; housing development strategies, sector plans, policies; housing monitoring, evaluation and impacts.
• Feasibilities and business plan development: Kayamandi has developed numerous feasibility studies and business plans and is able to convert high-level project concepts into business plans and fully implementable and sustainable projects.
• Monitoring and evaluation: entails a diagnostic analysis of the current situation and the forces at play or strategic change drivers and examines the causal links and attribution between inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, and impacts.
• Project implementation and on the ground delivery of local businesses and creation of jobs.

Affirmative action and empowerment

Kayamandi supports and promotes Affirmative Action and empowerment as effectively as possible. This has been achieved by focusing on the firm’s internal policy as well as through its shareholding with 70% ownership of historically disadvantaged individuals. Kayamandi supports any form of Affirmative Action and has achieved this by utilising disenfranchised persons/institutions on all multidimensional projects and by seeking opportunities for capacity building and undertaking employment programmes as an integral part of the projects the firm is involved in. Employment opportunities are considered on merit while providing opportunities for individuals from the disadvantaged communities in South Africa. Kayamandi currently employs a staff of 10 of which 30% are female and 90% are historically disadvantaged individuals.

Kayamandi actively practices a policy of community involvement and empowerment through participative processes. The most successful; is the recruitment and training of community members to undertake fieldwork as part of primary data gathering exercise. Kayamandi has also established an extensive networking system with disenfranchised consultants and persons, utilising their services on an ongoing basis. The project team fully ascribes to capacity building and empowerment of Historically Disadvantaged Individuals through the application of Affirmative Action principles, i.e.:

• Actively implementing Affirmative Action strategy within each team member.
• Assigning HDIs to the project as far as possible.
• Applying counterpart training as part of the project.
• Utilising fieldworkers (HDIS) in the surveys where possible.
• Skills and technology transfer throughout the project.
• Production of training products as an integral part of the project.

Social responsibility endeavours


Kayamandi is actively involved in ensuring a positive impact through its activities. Social responsibility actions include:

• Providing annual monetary donations to Haven Care Centre a children's orphanage by 'adopting' an orphan's tuition, books, stationary, etc.
• On a bi-monthly basis the Haven Care Centre is also supported through purchasing miscellaneous goods to assist them in generating additional income.
• The establishment of an extensive network with disenfranchised consultants and small BEE start-ups, utilising their services on an ongoing basis as well as providing them with free advice, knowledge and support.
• As far as practically possible, part-time employment opportunities are sought and provided to unemployed Town and Regional Planning graduates which empowers them with practical training and experience and improves their marketability.
• Contributors to Cadiz Enterprise Development Investment fund