Critical Analysis of Business Model Used to Fill Skills Gap in S.A.

Old Mutual, through its partnership with the South African government, set up a trust to assist government in skills development at local, provincial and national level and small enterprises.Old Mutual's retired senior employees were taken on as consultants in Project iLima to share their experience and expertise with government employees. The method used to uncover the business system involved primary research and a synthesis process. Interviews were held with two Ilima consultants, after which questionnaires were used to gather qualitative feedback from the iLima consultants and their clients. The feedback was synthesized until business objectives and activities were identified.The study project sheds light on iLima's business system. This is done through a method of synthesis, which seeks to get to the underlying meaning of the responses. Eight key business objectives are identified. The business model provides a compass or map from which business solutions can be aligned to business opportunities and problems. The model is a one-page representation of the entire business system that Project iLima ought to put under strong management, in the writer's view.