Chauke Business Enterprises (CBE) is a minority joint venture partner in the Limpopo part of the Moloto Road upgrade. The company was established in 2007 and has a longstanding relationship with the main JV partner KPMM. Adam Chauke, CBE managing partner says it’s been a long journey for their company. He remembers the days when they first started on very small projects, with literally, a pick and shovel. There was no industry grading in those days.

In the early days, CBE would get projects which would pay as little as R20 000 and after paying staff, the company would be left with nothing. “We had to start somewhere but that journey has taught us a lot about business and the importance of reinvesting into the business. We had to strengthen our resources, capacity and processes in order to grow,” says Chauke.

Before entering into the JV for the Moloto Road upgrade, CBE had, over the years, been subcontracted by KPMM on several projects. This helped the company grow to what it is today. Chauke describes the relationship between the two companies as that of a parent and child. He credits most of the skills they acquired to KPMM and is excited about their elevated role of being a partner in the Moloto Road upgrade.

For the upgrade, CBE handles the labour intensive part of the work and this enables them to hire more people, due to the size of the project. This helps with the transfer of skills which will benefit the labourers long after the project is complete.

Chauke says what’s kept CBE in business for the past 10 years is reliability and never compromising on delivering quality work. This approach delivers results as big companies count on you to participate in small- to medium-sized jobs they may get, and you stay top of mind. “I’d like to thank SANRAL for making it a requirement for big, experienced companies to work with SMMEs on projects. This gives smaller companies access to an industry that is difficult to crack and helps expand our skill sets. At the end of this project, we’ll gain invaluable knowledge and qualify to tender for bigger projects,” concludes Chauke.