Ann Clarke's Page

"Thank you Sylvia, Des and all you wonderful thinking, intelligent people who responded to this discussion.  I came onto the site with steam pouring out of my ears, needing to vent my frustrations - only to find that you are all busy doing just…"

"Hi Walter   Good thought, I'll bear that in mind next time. Thanks "

"Hi all, If you have come across a vendor form requesting you to complete the BEE questionnaires, then just know that the forms are either out of date or the person who designed them do not understand the new procurement rules. As from 07 December…"

"Hi Ann,   You can go to your bank and ask them to provide you with a Letter of Confirmation that you are in good standing with the bank and 'good' for normal business engagements.   That should suffice.  "

"Hi Johan Great article – am in complete agreement.  I think it is becoming more and more appreciated that a managers EQ, as opposed to his/her IQ, is the predominant determining success factor.  If you make the effort to understand…"

"You are NOT alone!! We have flat refused (in a polite professional manner) to send our audited statements out and sometimes it lands us in the "NO" box straight away and other times they will accept a letter form the auditors in lieu. We…"

"Wow, thank you everyone for your supportive comments.  We all seem to be in agreement that bureaucracy such as this undermines the potential of small business entrepreneurs to do what only we, in our numbers, can realistically do – turn…"

"Ian, I agree with you - it is this type of beaurocracy that kills small businesses.  Only when one runs a small business does one truly understand the concept of non-income-generating time - a lot of big businesses and government lose sight of…"

"I feel the same when a company or government department wants me to complete their endless BEE questionaire instead of accepting the BEE certificate I have already obtained.  That what certification is for; to ensure one only does it…"

"I'm so glad that I'm not alone in this struggle.  I've lost much sleep and energy with these Vendor Applications.  Once the documentation (a trolley load no less) has been submitted, then the endless explanations…"

"Well, I hope all the good advice works for you. Unfortunately though most companies have these rules, and they don't stop to consider how stupid they are for really small (low value vendors). But getting around them is another thing altogether.…"