A company built to contribute to South Africa
THE STORY of pinpoint one is the story of South Africa or – to be more precise – the story of contributing to the new South Africa.
It began with a chance meeting in 1980 when Florence Thom and Clive Viveiros met. Florence was responsible for recruitment and Clive was providing recruitment solutions. They forged a friendship that endures to this day, 19 years later. During the Nelson Mandela presidency, they decided to take their friendship a step further and start a business together.
pinpoint one human resources was born on 1 May 1999 – international workers’ day. There were three founding partners – Florence Thom, Clive H Viveiros and Florence’s late sister Lizelle Thom Pohl. It was a humble beginning, operating from Florence’s home for the first two months until their new office space was ready.
The time was auspicious. On 29 May South African mountaineer Cathy O’Dowd became the first woman in the world to summit Everest from both the north and the south sides and two days later Thabo Mbeki would be inaugurated as South Africa’s second democratic president. It was a time of great expectation and excitement too. On the first night of moving in, their offices were burgled – cleaned of the brand-new furniture and equipment they had bought. They would be broken into three times in that first year – but they were never deterred.
Their client base was built from businesses who believed in them, as much as they believed in themselves. Many of those clients would grow with them too and remain clients to this day. Happy Mandlazi was pinpoint one’s first staff member and remains the longest serving employee to date. The first invoice submitted was on 1 July 1999 to the National Research Foundation for successfully finding their chief executive officer – Dr Khotso Mokhele who would go on to become chancellor of the University of the Free State.
By 2001, pinpoint one would be forging strategic partnerships with a variety of different stakeholders and role-players – one of them, clinical psychologist Nkhabele Marumo becoming a shareholder, while Hendrik Louw, who acted as a business advisor is currently a non-executive director.
In 2002 Mark Shuttleworth was the first South African in space. The year though was far more important to pinpoint one for the fact that a young woman, newly graduated with a master’s degree from Wits University joined as a consultant’s assistant. Four years later Lucia Mabasa would be appointed as executive director and then in 2010, when South Africa became the first country on the continent to host the soccer world cup, as pinpoint one’s managing director.
2002 also marks the beginning of pinpoint one’s formal relationship with local artists as part of the company’s corporate social investment programme. Pinpoint one partnered with Artist Proof Studio in Newtown – a section 21 company, which develops art talent and teaches the trades of paper and print making. Over the years, pinpoint one sponsored 30 bursaries for artists to complete their three-year programme and launched their careers by hosting their first solo exhibitions. These opportunities profiled the artists, created networks with business people, pinpoint one clients and the arts investor community. Pinpoint one is proud of supporting Nelson Makamo, Bambo Sibiya, Themba Khumalo, Philip Mabote among many others to achieve the prominence they enjoy, locally and internationally. Pinpoint one was the recipient of three Business and Arts South Africa(BASA) awards in 2002, 2006 and 2012.
This relationship with the artists of Artist Proof Studio, has nourished their soul, enriched the business and is meaningful to the founding members Florence and Clive. A small contribution, impacting in a big way – demonstrating pinpoint one’s commitment to an inclusive society.
“When you do something without looking for recognition and reward – the right thing to do – you are often pleasantly surprised at the recognition received for the impact made on the broader society we live in”.
Pinpoint one’s journey though has not been without tragedy, in 2004, Lizelle Pohl passed on. Her loss is felt to this day.
In 2006, a large recruitment project enabled pinpoint one to appoint a project team of 90 data capturers and administrators, all of whom were unemployed at the time. On completion of the project, all 90 were able to secure employment with them and other entities because of the mentored experience, work and life skills gained.
Since inception, pinpoint one has employed, nurtured and upskilled more than 200 people, many of whom were graduates, unemployed. Their career successes can be tracked back to that very first opportunity given to them by pinpoint one to enter the world of work.
President Cyril Ramaphosa famously uttered the challenge Thuma Mina, Send me, to South Africans in his first State of the Nation address (SONA) in 2018. Pinpoint one has always been ready to answer the call; pinpoint one has forged a proud reputation of appointing the best C-suite, scarce and critical skilled candidates to be successful leaders in their organisations.
At SONA 2019, Ramaphosa spoke of the Man in the Arena, calling on South Africans to be doers rather than critics; once again pinpoint one was ready for him: When pinpoint one was established, the dream was to create a company that contributes to South Africa by being representative, creating jobs, ensuring their own and their clients’ sustainability, appointing future leaders. Pinpoint one’s commitment to transformation is reflected in today being a majority Black Woman Owned business.
Pinpoint one is often asked what the secret is to the company’s success.
”There is none, other than hard work and embracing and practicing our Ethos of Delivery, Professionalism, Uniqueness, Passion, Integrity, Energy, being Progressive and Dynamic.
The SOUL of pinpoint one is passion, a belief in achieving excellence. At pinpoint one human resources we never do anything in half measures, whether attracting or retaining talented people or contributing to communities, we have fun in delivering!
While we celebrated our 20 years of successful business, we are even more excited about the journey that still lies ahead – a journey focused on connecting the BEST of business with the BEST of talent as we step over the threshold into the New Dawn!”
