It’s not only about being the best at what we do but being better than we were yesterday; an ethos that gave birth to the dream child of Founders Jody and Lisa van Heerden. CAD4ALL was established in 2008 by its Founders whom share a passion for developing young people and find their full potential in life.

“There was no better way in shaping the youth than to give them a solid foundation with an education” was the first response the couple gave in their reasons for starting the College which at the time only offered architectural CAD designing and construction short courses, which now has increased with more faculties and disciplines within them on offer today to students.

Coming from humble beginnings and growing up on the Cape Flats, more specific Bishop Lavis. “A township of poverty, gangsterism and drug infested streets, there are few if no opportunities for the youth of this area, in the years of my upbringing and today it is no different!” Jody explains how he had to fight the adversities of his immediate community and stay focused on a dream and the steps to achieving this vision.

Through all this and limited funds for schooling and furthering his studies, Jody worked hard to be noticed above his peers whilst studying receiving many accolades and achievements. His achievements afforded him to be selected for overseas studies and experience enhancing the knowledge he had and needs for the years to come. He completed his formal studies in 1999 in the field of Architecture and Entrepreneurial Studies. CAD4ALL started off selling affordable CAD software bringing a solution and an option to a market that was high end, but still making use of pirated software.

CAD is a design package used by engineers, designers, architects and allows them to design on a work station. Jody and Lisa saw a gap as most companies could not afford what was on offer and the pirated version was not conducive for businesses to service clients with. The name came in the solution and was for everyone who needed to design a desk, house, car, shop interior, the list continues.

It was definitely for all, hence being named CAD4ALL. Because it was a more affordable alternative, it took a lot of slander from the bigger more expensive competitor. This stretched the brand, but CAD4ALL reliability package made up of services and training is what made them strive and keep them a pick above the rest. The proof is that 10 years later and with a client base of over 2000 design and engineering firms making use of the reliable service and package.

Every business faces economic and socio issues and this proves testing and trying time.

This however also saw huge firms scaling down and using more affordable packages and support.

The training was also done by CAD4ALLwhich really got the brand out for all to experience and see. CAD4ALL was really tested at this time Jody had entered into an entrepreneurial competition for a trip and to attend a course at the Sierra Nevada College in Lake Tahoe, USA. It was extremely difficult for Lisa to be alone with their three young kids while Jody spent months away in course in the USA.

They made a collective decision that Jody should go and pursue the opportunity as the future benefits were to promising - this they only saw a few years later how well it all fitted in the collective of their entrepreneurial journey. Jody was one of 9 Entrepreneurs that submitted a business plan and received resound acclaim from the panel of judges assessing this competition.

Lisa has enjoyed building this brand with Jody and with her qualifications and experience in phycology contributed majorly in the realization and formation of the college and its accreditation in offering the curriculums. This was not enough for Lisa as she had to see children from disadvantaged areas benefit from a college structure that offered practical up skilling of learners.

The college then started offering a learner ship program for children from disadvantaged areas and schools. Accredited qualifications are very important to the growth of any economy and skill of workforce and all these factors contribute to a higher standard of living. This was possible for all through learner ship programs offered. Education was accessible to all and because of this, CAD4ALL College had to endure slander and being labelled as a “bogus” because of its stance on education and empowering everyone with skills to better their tomorrow.

Like all these adversities, the brand stood strong and what was once a mustard seed, showed a flowering tree, well rooted in the industry of design, engineering and education. The college grew and like all successful business people driven by a passion to see others that do not have a chance to succeed offered this opportunity, Lisa still felt they are not reaching enough disadvantaged individuals. This lead the college to enter a sports teams into tournaments, then from these sports days a futsal team was born. The CA4ALL Futsal team, whom were young men under the age of 21 from the area of Bishop Lavis and Valhalla. The team started entering major tournaments and won a few coveted titles. This invoked a spark within Jody that made him fall in love with the sport.

The College then went on to enter two teams in the in the Regional Futsal League and went on to win it, but just being part of a team was just not enough. Jody used the Futsal to give these young men a learner ship to study. Most boys in this age group have given up on schooling and pursued a career in football, but got a raw deal by agents and semi pro clubs. These young men now are receiving a second chance at enjoying their talent in playing futsal and receiving an education with a skill for life. Lisa was very happy as this was in line with their vision of assisting people to better their yesterday and soon too fell in love with the sport of futsal.

The college had an array of talent and the regional league at that time being very small and limited, Jody saw growth for the league, but more so develop the sport of Futsal in South Africa. Jody went on to contact the World body of Futsal, AMF and this is where the college once again grew not only in forming the South African Futsal Federation, but more so in becoming accredited in now offering sports management and coaching accredited courses.

The college portfolio of curriculum has grown tremendously over the first 10 years and this was only the platform for the next exciting years to come. CAD4ALL believes and approaches its learning through a blended learning approach which is the latest and most accommodating way of learning and gaining a qualification. CAD4ALL has a lot of effort put into the background and structure of everything that streams the businesses so that they speak to each other.

This shows in the online learning sector of the blended learning which really gives the virtual classroom to its users, namely the students. Being ahead of the curve has carried the brand and its business entities and this desire has kept the college innovative, creative and techno savvy for the growing demands of our youth today.

“Looking back I see guts, hard knocks, learning curves and a success formulae that has carried us and kept us abreast from all the adversities and slander. We stuck to our guns even when it meant spending time away from my loves ones, sacrificing to realize a dream that not only empowers your family but the communities you come from and that’s the true joy,” was the message Jody and Lisa wants to impart with aspiring Entrepreneurs and those chasing their dream but can’t seem to see the goal line.

A strong foundation has been fortified and established CAD4ALL and its brand. If from nothing we could build this in 10 years, what would the next 10 years have in store? This question excited the passionate couple and looked at each other saying that they are ready for the challenges the new era holds and excited at the same time as they can only see CAD4ALL growing its umbrella of businesses and increasing the curriculum of the college in years to come.

Flexible, Affordable and relevant B-BBEE Skills development products which assists our clients in gaining the much-needed B-BBEE Scorecard points via Skills development, enterprise and supplier development as well as Holistic CSI initiatives.

he hassle- free B-BBEE solutions offered by CAD4ALL Corporate Training & B-BBEE Solutions includes a dedicated team of experts that manages the requirements imposed by legislation on behalf of all our clients who needs to comply annually CAD4ALL Corporate Training & B-BBEE Solutions manages the Human Resources and Industrial relations on behalf of our clients while remaining cognitive to the fact that our interventions must always be relevant to the client’s business and be aligned to their applicable legislation and policy.

Entering into a training agreement with a 100% LEVEL 1 Black woman owned entity like CAD4ALL which is accredited with the department of higher education and training as well as various SETAS, will contribute to much more rewards for the company partnering with CAD4ALL as well as tax rebates

1. Our clients can take advantage of CAD4ALL being a first-time supplier to the company
2. Enjoy maximum points gained at a low-cost due to initiative entry incentives such as tax rebates, youth subsidies and other allowed grants
3. 135% maximum gain on procurement (Level 1), enhanced to 162% as a new supplier.
4. Our end-to-end, full-service offers give you a range of solutions for all your BEE requirements
5. We work with you to develop customized and strategic solutions designed to meet your exact needs
6. Access to CAD4ALL Campus, the most innovative way to gain maximum points whilst avoiding a loss in staff productivity.
7. Enjoy additional BEE points on Enterprise development, supplier development & CSI
8. Our solution is closely aligned to the BEE codes of good conduct
9. We offer qualifications across all industries – NQF Level 1 to 6.
10. Through innovative initiatives and industry-firsts, we ensure that priority elements are met
11. We are fully accredited to ensure your peace-of-mind and complete gain of Government incentives

View our video https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6541228811399372800 email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for a B-BBEE information pack

It is once again the leaders in our country that will make the difference – those with the drive and determination to succeed.  CM Trading is facilitating this South African entrepreneurial spirit by introducing the Business Referrers programme which enables individuals with vision, spirit and resolve to either make a successful part-time business or a booming full time enterprise.

“As well as providing the largest retail online trading platform for individuals and companies, we have also seen the need to provide opportunities for individuals to grow their wealth in other ways – hence the development of the Business Referrers programme,” says Daniel Kibel, CM Trading.  “Since we started trading in 2012 we have become one of the most trusted trading sites in the world, boasting our presence all over the world and winning many awards including the Best Performing Broker in Africa by Africa investor (Ai) at a function at NASDAQ in New York.  People are beginning to learn that trading can be as simple or as complicated as you make it, and we pride ourselves on making it simple, transparent and profitable.”

“Being prepared for various market scenarios is often a key part of a business’ success – the better prepared you are, the better your performance will be,” Kibel continues.  “However, a trader should always be responsible and we pride ourselves on good business practice and on ensuring that we educate both the experienced online trader as well as the new online practitioner – we are here to assist.  Our Business Referrers programme teaches our business partners to be disciplined, to think of the long term and most importantly to be patient.  This is just one of the reasons we started the Programme.”

“The point of entry is low – in fact all an individual needs to become a Business Referrer is someone who can introduce a minimum of five clients looking to invest with a company that provides full back up support and continued maintenance through an established trading company.  There is no capital outlay, just a determined spirit and a basic knowledge of the CM Trading platform – all of which is provided by CM Trading through webinars, through seminars and also through our call-in and walk-in centres.   This programme is really taking off – beyond what we ever imagined – after all, who doesn’t want to make an extra income with the backing of an international company!”, says Kibel.

At a recent Business Referrers workshop held, some of the comments received included:“I am a new Business Referrer and this seminar has shown me exactly what I can expect and I just can’t wait to get started.  I have been told exactly what I can expect from my online trading and marketing experience with CM Trading.  I am excited and they actually understand the exact direction that I want to take my company - this is all very exciting for me!”

Another delegate said:

“This is the first Business Referrers workshop that I have been to, but I understand from other delegates and Entrepreneurs here that they are really good at helping to generate more business and that their level of engagement is always top notch.  The team at CM Trading are very hands on and very involved and they always follow up – it really feels like they want us to succeed, they want to create a new breed of entrepreneurs, this is something I am so privileged to be involved in.”

Kibel concludes: “The World Wide Web has made it a new world, a small world but a beautiful world and we can’t wait to build up our entrepreneur base here in South Africa and invest in an entirely new breed of successful independent business people.”

Anyone interested in signing up to the Business Referrers Programme can contact CM Trading on www.cmtrading.com or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

While some jobs are in high demand, others are very hard to find as well. Adzuna in South Africa has done some research on the most sought after skills by companies and their demand from job seekers, crowning those that push both factors the most to be the rarest skills in the country. By this logic, if a skill is in high demand but low in supply, this makes it rarer than skills which are low in both available candidates and low in demand.

From the data generated by listing over 130,000 online job listings in South Africa, as well as searching through mountains of search requests by millions of applicants, skills needed for the following industries and vacancies has risen and is high (see Table 1). However, cross-referenced is the amount of job seekers available or looking for the relevant skills, making some qualifications and skills far more rare to find.  

Table 1: Demand for skills by companies crossed with demand for positions by job seeker searches (see image attached above)

A 2,0 factor score would thus mean that in essence, twice as many vacancies exist as job seekers searching for such a position. If this does not seem rare enough already, bear in mind that the job seeker looking for work in that skill or job title may not even be qualified or suitable for the position.

The results contain a few interesting findings, yet the rarest skills still remain in the technology sector. Engineers and developers, together with financial skills, are clearly the hardest to find, with the most demand from firms, yet with the least available candidates. Interestingly, recruiters are now a hot skill, with many organisations and agencies requiring recruitment specialists in their HR departments.

Jesse Green, country manager for Adzuna South Africa commented on the findings: “While not every job in demand is posted online, the trends shown by the sample data are clear and meaningful. Companies must dig deep to explore new ways of attracting programming and engineering skills, as well as some of those in the financial or accountancy area. Management skills too, represent a challenge.”

Combining these two data sets gives one a clearer view on which skills are hardest to find in South Africa, yet not every rare skill is necessarily highly paid.

As a third factor, salary would probably be able to assist in predicting further the rarest skills in South Africa, although in some industries, such as textiles, weaving managers with many qualifications and years of experience do not necessarily earn as high a income as one might imagine, given that there are extremely few of these skills in the country. The highest salaries for those skills in the Table 1 above were for engineers, pharmacists, project managers, developers and analysts.

“What is interesting to note, which is not shown in these results, is the change in salaries from May to September, where the rarer skills have not seen as much growth as one would have expected,” says Green.

Another means of interpreting skill rarity is to see what the Department of Labour recognises as South Africa’s “critical skills”. A list of critical skills is published annually and the list from 2014 is used by the Department of Home Affairs to determine if a foreign worker may be employed ahead of a South African. Green, who has a background in immigration services, mentions that unfortunately this list is becoming outdated and does not take into account later lists published by the Department of Labour.

With numerous means of finding out which skills are rare, the technology arena continually shines through as the place to be working in. Now, with finance skills showing an increasing difficulty to recruit, it will be interesting to see how companies, and hopefully the South African government, ensure that South African firms are able to hire the right people with the best competencies.