After working in the corporate world for just more than five years, Hayley Gillman went on maternity leave and never returned. While raising the first two of her three sons, Gillman sought new challenges and began freelancing as a trainer/facilitator for an international company as well as for a local skills development provider. “It was then that I realised that I had the capacity, skills, and financial backing to start my own company doing skills development,” she says. Today, her company, the Business Optimization Training Institute (BOTI), has been around for more than 10 years and is an established skills development provider with a national footprint. “My focus is on people – they are the engine of any company,” says Gillman. “I ensure that the human aspect of managing a company isn’t lost, and try to inspire and motivate staff with incentives, encouragement, and an open-door policy.” In the past year alone, BOTI has offered more than 400 soft-skills short courses; skills programmes; and 13 learnerships. “Our programmes have empowered local businesses to optimise their processes, reduce costs, and improve overall performance, contributing to the economic development and resilience of the South African business landscape,” Gillman says. Rather than offer once-off training, BOTI partners with clients to create mutually beneficial long-term relationships, she says. “We offer bespoke training courses that are customised to the client’s focus areas and include client-specific examples and case studies.” In most cases, delegates also have access to subject-related material for six months at no additional cost as a value-added service. Gillman is particularly proud of having sustained and grown her business for more than a decade. “We’ve weathered many storms, especially the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, and are now emerging from its financial impact,” she says. “My greatest disappointment was having to retrench staff during the pandemic – to have to let go of staff that showed loyalty and commitment. There was just no income at all for about four months. Yet, ultimately witnessing BOTI grow from just two staff members, including myself, to a team of nine, six of whom come from previously disadvantaged backgrounds, has been incredibly rewarding.” In future, Gillman would like to do less operational work and more peripheral management. “I hope that one day, we will have empowered the staff enough to run it by themselves with just a little guidance from us,” she says. “That’s when you know you have made a difference. This will leave me free to use BOTI profits for more philanthropic work.” If there was one thing she could do all over again, Gillman says it would be to allow her husband to be a part of the BOTI journey as a silent partner. “When launching the business, it wasn’t uncommon for us to have long business conversations at night and on weekends, establishing all the various facets of a small business. Between us, we would address all areas that required attention. He has immense business experience and technical ability, and has been instrumental in my growth and that of the business.” Hayley Gillman Europcar Women in Leadership Award Nominees
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