PURCO SA CEO Report – Selvan Govender

When I wrote my CEO report last year, I could not foresee just how profoundly the COVID-19 pandemic would still be affecting our lives and our work a full 12 months later. This is the perfect moment to say how proud I am of our Member community and our PURCO SA team for enabling us to continue adding value to the Higher Education sector despite COVID-19 and the other social, economic and political challenges that South Africans must contend with. The changes we made together, in pursuit of our strategic objectives and in response to the pandemic, have been up to the challenge and I am confident that our efforts toward a revitalized Higher Education future will continue making a difference.

GROWTH IN MEMBERSHIP
We valued the support of our 66 Member institutions in the past year, and our TVET expansion drive again bore fruit. We now represent all public universities in South Africa and Namibia, 22 TVET colleges, 3 private Higher Education providers and 16 Members from research and associated bodies. Our continued Membership growth is testimony to the quality of PURCO SA people and systems, and the important role that we play in saving our Members money and making their jobs easier. It is relevant, although not surprising, that not a single finding was made by the Auditor General in regard to PURCO SA work at the TVET Colleges.

ORGANISATIONAL RESTRUCTURE
Key changes to our organizational structure over the past two years have delivered results. We reorganized into three distinct business units, each with executive managers reporting to the CEO. They are Finance and Operations, including PURQ and the Consultancy division; a business unit for Universities and Associated Members, including quality management and member/supplier development; and a business unit for TVET Members. This realignment delivered improved performance across all business units and particularly strong growth in PURQ and our Consultancy revenue. TVETs and Universities are subject to very different legal and operational constraints and the organizational focus on each area has enabled the business units to deliver outstanding results, despite limited resources. A noteworthy success has been our ability to deeply engage with individual universities and TVETs affected by COVID-19, austerity-induced staffing and skills constraints, and the challenges of working from home. Institutions that have traditionally managed tenders internally are benefiting from dedicated PURCO SA teams to help them deliver on their mandates, and we anticipate that their positive experiences will encourage more Members to utilize PURCO SA as a collaborative-shared service resource

ISO 9001:2015
PURCO SA successfully completed our 3-yearly ISO 9001:2015 re-certification assessment in 2021. Our ISO certification confirms that our organization consistently provides products and services that meet internationally recognized quality, customer and regulatory standards.

THANK YOU
The past 12 months have been tough but exhilarating, and I am grateful for the strong support from all our stakeholders during this tumultuous period. I extend my thanks to our community of Members and Suppliers, our National Office team, Regional Committees and our Board of Directors. I am confident about our prospects for the coming year. While the pressures on Higher Education are unlikely to ease in the short term, PURCO SA is firmly positioned on a strategic trajectory that secures our increasing relevance and value to our Members. In closing, we remember those within our Consortium who have succumbed to the pandemic or other causes, and offer our support and condolences.

Selvan Govender
PURCO SA Chief Executive Office

Click here to read the full CEO's report: https://view.publitas.com/assocworks/2020-21-purco-sa-annual-report/page...