Durban business coach scoops national awards for growing local SMMEs

Kloof ActionCOACH, Darryn Le Grange, who offers entrepreneurs business coaching that focuses on growth and profit making strategies, won the ActionCOACH Firm of the Year 2016 award, while his associate coach, Deborah Coskey, clinched the SA Rookie Coach of the Year.

Bradley Douglas, MD of Waterfall based Motion Tronic, one of Le Grange’s clients, which offers breakdown support for industrial machinery and designs and builds mechanical and electrical solutions for major international firms like Gedore Tools won the Best Service Based Company award. The awards were presented at a gala dinner ceremony in Durban at the weekend.

Darryn Le Grange and Deborah Coskey (holding trophy) received the award for best ActionCOACH firm in 2016 and is pictured with (L-R) Harry Welby-Cooke, Chane da Costa and Pieter Scholtz of ActionCOACH SA.

Le Grange said he was honoured but surprised to win the award, as the organisation introduced the award category for the first time this year. He put his success down to a commitment to produce top results for SMMEs to develop and grow turnover.

“The SMME sector plays a huge role in job creation and we believe it is the sector where economic growth is going to come from in future, which means coaching has an important role to play. We have helped businesses to grow their turnover and profit by between 30% and 100 % by planning and strategising for medium and long-term growth and development.

“We took one of our clients from a financial position of breaking even to a R6m profit this year and another client has grown turnover by 43% simply by taking action on the coaching advice that we have provided.”

Taking SMMEs to the next level

Le Grange added that SMME owners were often highly skilled professionals in their fields yet lacked the necessary skills to run a business, a reason many failed within the first five years. However, he said the perception that coaching was for struggling businesses was incorrect, as it was an important tool to take successful firms to the next growth level.

“Small business owners often provide excellent service and quality goods but they do not have skills in business strategy, financial management and marketing to drive growth. It is also important for an entrepreneur to step back to work ‘on the business’ rather than ‘in the business’ so that it can eventually operate without the owner’s constant presence.

“Just as top sportsmen take instructions from their coaches and must follow strict training regimens, as coaches, we come alongside businessmen and motivate them to realise their goals and dreams.”