GOPA Group Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd  
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The company


CONCISE PROFILE OF THE FIRM

1. STRUCTURE AND SHAREHOLDING

GOPA Southern Africa was established In 2001 as a proprietary limited company. The firm's shareholding is comprised as follows:
  • 48% by GOPA-Consultants (Germany)
  • 40% by Dirisana-Dex (a close corporation)
  • 12% by EPOS Health Consultants (a subsidiary of GOPA Consultants, Germany).
The shareholding of Dirisana-Dex is on a 50/50 ratio between Mr George Negota, a lawyer with extensive experience in the transport sector, and Dr Roelof Botha, currently a visiting lecturer in Economics at the Gordon Institute of Business Science. GOPA SA has been operative (de facto) under the name of a single proprietary (Ekonostrat) for the past ten years. Ekonostrat's project experience is mainly linked to that of its owner, Dr Roelof Botha, and its associates.

2. OBJECTIVES

The principal objective of GOPA SA is to satisfy its clients' requirements through quality consulting services in the area of broad-based development projects. The company's name is linked to its German shareholder, GOPA-Consultants, which in turn, is based on the German acronym for the words: organisation, planning and training. An ancillary objective of GOPA SA is to act as the Southern African representative firm of GOPA-Consultants.

3. MISSION STATEMENT

To provide quality development-consulting services within Southern Africa in the areas of planning, training, management and research, and to establish GOPA SA as a reputable firm associated with a sound knowledge of the development needs of Southern Africa.

4. SERVICES AND RANGE OF ACTIVITIES

The professional knowledge and experience of GOPA SA will be vested in its shareholders. The Southern African shareholder will introduce a network of associates to the activities of GOPA SA, which will cover the following functional activities:
  • Economic research
  • Project management
  • Regional planning
  • Curriculum development
  • Skills development
  • Environmental impact assessment
  • Institutional capacity building
  • Small business development
The priority sectors of GOPA SA will be aligned with those of its German shareholder. Due to capacity constraints during the initial stages of its operations, GOPA SA will concentrate its efforts on the priority sectors that have been identified by the European Programme for Reconstruction and Development (EPRD) in South Africa. They are the following:
  • Education and training
  • Health and population
  • Housing and urban development
  • Water and sanitation
  • Local economic development
  • Good governance
  • Private sector development
  • Regional integration and co-operation
In addition to these sectors, GOPA SA will also target the sectors for transport, agriculture and tourism as areas that are likely to be the subject of substantial future research and development. In the case of Southern Africa these sectors are regarded as strategically important, particularly from the infrastructure, employment creation and foreign exchange earnings perspectives.