With the government losing an estimated R30-billion annually to tender fraud including overpricing, an e-procurement platform could mitigate some of these losses.
GetBiz co-founder Andile Ntingi, who hails from Butterworth, said the company’s e-procurement platform aimed to attract clients from both government and private businesses.
GetBiz, which was launched in October last year, enabled easier access to the R1.2-trillion procurement sector for private businesses while it allowed for transparency in the bidding process that could help the government save billions, Ntingi who is currently based in Johannesburg said.
“GetBiz goes beyond tender notifications; it has a built-in electronic Tender Box, which enables tender seekers to submit their proposals back to tender issuers from anywhere in the country,” said Ntingi, who co-founded GetBiz with Sithembiso Sangweni.
“It also has an e-procurement auctions facility, which allows tender issuers to buy goods and services via real-time, transparent auctions. A government department can use an auction to buy 1000 laptops and suppliers bid to supply those laptops in real time, saving the department money as these auctions are fiercely competitive.”
The platform also provides free content related to procurement, franchising, investing and funding. Ntingi said the real-time element of the platform somewhat levels the playing field as both small start-ups and established businesses received access to the same opportunities via cellphones, tablets, laptops or desktops.
The platform also keeps an audit trail of procurement activities for five years or more, helping users with record-keeping for governance.
“Excellent record-keeping is a hallmark of a well run and properly governed organisation. Audit history can be kept on the GetBiz system indefinitely, but we have a policy of archiving this information. We are guided by sections 22 to 26 of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, which stipulates that a transaction which is concluded must be kept for at least five years from the date on which that transaction is concluded.”
Ntingi, who holds a honours degree in economics from Rhodes University and is a former City Press deputy business editor, said his experience and training has prepared him well for his venture. “This venture allows me to put my training to bear. Business journalism and financial PR prepared me well for this opportunity and I learned a lot from the various media houses I worked for over the years,” said Ntingi.
Before GetBiz was founded, Ntingi worked as head of corporate affairs at Thebe Investment Corporation, which he said laid claim to being the oldest BEE management company in the country.
“I learned a lot about starting companies and investment management. The experience that I acquired at Thebe gave me the confidence to go out and establish GetBiz. It has not been easy, but we are in the market now and competing with established companies.”