GENERAL NEWS
From the MD ’ s desk
It is hard to believe that we are already into the third month of the year and the builders ’ break is long in the past . Any feelings of relaxation that we had after the December holidays have vanished !
By Brett Marlin
Thinking about what I should write for the newsletter made me think about all of the issues of the newsletter that we have done and I decided to go back to the first issue that was published in March 2010 . When we started , we never thought that we would produce in excess of 50 quarterly newsletters , never missing one . It has been quite onerous to get these out but when one goes back and looks at them , it highlights so clearly where we have come from and how we have grown over the years .
In our first issue , we had just completed the FNB Francistown building , we were busy developing Kgale Manor , had just started the construction of Sebele Centre , started the Deloitte head office in the Showgrounds and moved into our new offices in Time Square in Independence Ave . I ’ m sure that many readers of our newsletter didn ’ t even know we were involved in some of these projects .
In terms of staff numbers , in March 2010 we had a total staff complement of 20 people and today we have a staff compliment of 37 in Botswana and 7 in Zambia with a total of 42 employees . Considering that each person probably has at least 2 dependants , Time is probably directly responsible for the well being of about 125 people . It ’ s quite a responsibility , but makes us proud that we are impacting positively on so many lives .
in the centre during the construction process as well as the operation phase . To establish this we looked at the most recent shopping centres that we have developed in Botswana ; Lobatse Junction and Teemane Mall .
Over the 15 months of construction we directly engaged 148 workers at Lobatse Junction and 184 workers at Teemane . If you consider the extended dependants , the number becomes substantial and could top out in excess of 500 people .
During the operational phase of the centre , which conservatively is about 50 years , the numbers become really large . At Lobatse , the shops and facilities management employ 336 people and at the larger centre , Teemane , the number increases to 362 employees . The extended dependants will conservatively probably be in the region of 1000 – 1500 people per centre .
Based on these numbers , we can see what a meaningful contribution ‘ nonmajority citizen-owned companies ’ like Time are capable of making to the economy and we hope that this will be encouraged in all sectors . Going forward , we will continue to focus on uplifting the communities where we operate , creating employment and contributing to improving the lives of the Batswana people .
Talking about employment in Botswana , we were doing a tender for the development of a shopping centre and one of the requirements was for us to indicate how many people we would employ during the construction process and during the operation phase of the development . When one looks at a shopping centre , one doesn ’ t appreciate the number of people employed
ABOUT TIME , the quarterly newsletter of Time Projects Editor : Brett Marlin
Managing editor : Faye-Marie Cloete Email : faye @ novacomms . net Cell : + 267 7137 6232
Contributors : Kagiso Sebetso , John Kelly , Michael Hughes , Mmika Selei , Heinrich Malan , Roy Mapharing , Merapelo Mopaki , Rorisang Macheng and Tapiwa Modise
Tel : + 267 395 6080 | Fax : + 267 390 0160 | Email : time @ time . co . bw | Website : www . time . co . bw
ABOUT TIME is published on behalf of Time Projects by Nova Communications ( Pty ) Ltd . The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors and people interviewed and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editor , publisher or Time Projects . While all precautions have been taken to ensure accuracy of information , the editors and publisher cannot accept responsibility for any inaccuracies which may inadvertently have occurred .
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ISSUE 53 - MARCH 2023