The inaugural Black Business Quarterly Youth Awards honour young South Africans from historically disadvantaged backgrounds, who have shown creativity and innovation in their field of expertise. They reward those who have brought about positive change and shown commitment to South Africa’s economical and social development goals. One such youth is Patrick Makhubedu, sales and marketing director at TSS Managed Services. 

Makhubedu was presented with his award last month for coming top of the ICT category. The accolade, he says, is thanks to, among other things, his display of innovation when he grew the company from a ‘one big account’ service provider to having multiple customers and a consequently broader base.

“We changed the focus of the business from ICT infrastructure development, projects and support to ICT outsourcing,” he says. Outsourcing, he explains, is far more sustainable and the customer learns to trust you with his business systems and processes, which in turn requires you to be innovative and act in an advisory capacity to the client. He says this move resulted in the company achieving revenue growth of R150 million over three years.