Apex Drive Academy Business Plan — Appendix D: Risk Register

Detailed risk register scoring likelihood and impact across operational, regulatory, financial and safety risks with mitigations.

Appendix D: Risk Register

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Risk

Assessment

Mitigation and residual position

Failure to obtain or retain TETA accreditation

Moderate likelihood, severe impact

Accreditation is the Year 1 milestone and precedes fleet expansion; a qualified quality assurance lead is appointed before application; internal moderation runs continuously

Learnership demand does not materialise

Moderate likelihood, severe impact

Two anchor employer agreements concluded before the second EC unit is acquired; retail and professional segments sized to cover overhead without corporate revenue

Grade A instructor scarcity

High likelihood, high impact

Above-market retention package, a bonded training programme growing Grade C instructors toward Grade B, and cross-scheduling so no single instructor is a single point of failure

Vehicle accident or write-off

High likelihood over five years, moderate impact

Comprehensive insurance with dual-control cover, tracking, documented incident protocols, and a spare vehicle in the fleet from Year 3

DLTC access, test availability and integrity

High likelihood, moderate impact

Relationships across multiple DLTCs rather than dependence on one; NaTIS booking discipline; a documented refusal to participate in payment for test outcomes, which is both unlawful and an existential reputational risk

Fuel price inflation

High likelihood, low to moderate impact

Fuel is roughly 13% of retail direct cost and 22% of heavy-vehicle direct cost; a 25% rise costs under R100 000 of Year 5 profit

Debt service tightness in Year 2

High likelihood

Twelve-month capital moratorium on each fleet finance tranche, or a promoter support undertaking; fleet expansion deferrable within one quarter if coverage falls below 1.25 times

Reputational damage from poor pass rates

Moderate likelihood, high impact

Pass rate tracked by instructor and by DLTC yard and reported monthly; instructors below threshold retrained or replaced

D.1 Pre-committed trigger points

Point

Trigger

Committed response

Month 6

TETA application not submitted

Halt fleet expansion beyond five vehicles. The corporate business is the investment case and accreditation is its precondition

Month 12

Retail contribution below half of overhead

Review instructor utilisation and package pricing before adding vehicles. Retail must carry the base

Year 2

Accreditation not granted

Do not acquire the first EC unit. A financed truck earning retail rates cannot cover itself

Year 2

Fewer than two anchor employer agreements signed

Defer the second EC unit. Contracted volume precedes capacity, not the other way round

Any year

Debt service cover below 1.25 times

Defer the following year’s fleet addition and approach the financier before the covenant is tested

Any month

First-time pass rate below 55% for any instructor

Retrain or replace. Pass rate is the leading indicator of retail reputation and it moves before revenue does