SAB Launces Entrepreneurship Campaign to

SAB LAUNCHES ENTREPRENEURSHIP CAMPAIGN TO CREATE 10 000 JOBS IN SA RETAIL NEWS

A call to action to all entrepreneurs

SAB Entrepreneurship Programme Launch

South African Breweries (SAB) has announced that it will help create thousands of jobs in South Africa and increase opportunities for entrepreneurs to become part of its supply chain through its key entrepreneurship programmes. From rural entrepreneurs to big business, SAB has laid the foundation to support entrepreneurs and create a total of 10 000 jobs in South Africa by 2021 using its entrepreneurship programmes – SAB KickStart, SAB Foundation, SAB Thrive and SAB Accelerator.

The company offers a comprehensive and holistic package of entrepreneurship support to develop small businesses from ideation to growth, transforming the supply chain, as well as investing in the potential of entrepreneurs in the broader community. Applicants to the programmes will go through a selection process. Driving the ambition to create 10 000 jobs is a call to action to all entrepreneurs through a mass media Entrepreneurship Campaign, beginning with a television commercial launched in August. The commercial centres on the concept of how “One Idea” can ignite and spark a nation to heed the call to try its hand at entrepreneurship to build a better South Africa for all.

SAB Entrepreneurship Programmes:

SAB KickStart

The programme has been running since 1995 and focuses on youth-owned businesses. It is focused on investing in youth entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 35. The programme backs black entrepreneurs with existing, emerging businesses in key industries that are aligned to supply chains. There are two programmes within the SAB KickStart offering: SAB KickStart Boost and SAB KickStart Ignite.

SAB KickStart Boost is a supply-chain readiness programme that’s built around a key objective: enabling high-potential, youth-owned business to become suppliers of various organisations in the private and public sector, thereby fast-tracking the transformation of the economy. We back entrepreneurs with existing, emerging businesses in key industries to be ready for and to access supply chains, and as a result grow into sustainable businesses that create jobs. SAB KickStart Ignite supports disruptive innovators that have innovative businesses and products that have high potential to grow into viable businesses that can solve our business challenges and can grow to be future creators of employment. Eligible entrepreneurs receive technical product and business development support, which includes one-on-one mentoring, prototyping, commercialisation and financial support where required. SAB KickStart Ignite acts as a pipeline of entrepreneurs for more advanced programmes, such as SAB KickStart Boost.

SAB Foundation

The SAB Foundation is an independent trust founded to benefit historically disadvantaged individuals and communities, primarily but not exclusively through entrepreneurial development in South Africa. It is one of three beneficiaries of SAB’s B-BBEE transaction, SAB Zenzele, established in 2010. Key beneficiary groups include women, youth, people in rural areas and people with disabilities. The long-term vision underpinning the SAB Foundation is to ignite a culture of entrepreneurship and social innovation in South Africa as a source of economic growth and a primary source of innovation and job creation. The focus is on investing in entrepreneurs outside of the value chain and across the country, with a particular emphasis on businesses outside major metropolitan areas. There are two offerings for entrepreneurs within the SAB Foundation: the Social Innovation Awards and Tholoana Enterprise Programme. The Social Innovation Awards invest in innovative business ideas that can solve social problems. This includes but is not limited to energy, water, health, education, housing and food security. The Disability Empowerment Awards is a special category for innovation that benefits people with disabilities. The Tholoana Enterprise Programme is a two-year business support and capital grant programme to assist micro and small enterprises to grow and create jobs.

SAB Thrive

The SAB Thrive Fund is an enterprise and supplier development (E&SD) fund, set up and funded by SAB to transform the company’s supplier base. The fund has been established in partnership with the Awethu Project, a black private equity fund manager and SMME investment company. The SAB Thrive Fund’s mandate is to invest in and transform SAB suppliers, such that they become more representative of our country’s demographics. SAB Thrive Fund investees benefit from 100% black equity capital and business support.

SAB Accelerator

The key objective of SAB Accelerator is to grow SAB’s supply chain to be inclusive of black-owned, especially black women-owned, businesses. To achieve this, an incubator consisting of 10 business coaches and 10 engineers, who are dedicated to growing these suppliers, has been created. SAB Accelerator will partner with the company’s suppliers and provide coaching and technical expertise, which in turn will help them understand the SAB landscape, its value chain and integrate them into the business. Simply put, SAB Accelerator is a team of people who are dedicated to help black-owned suppliers improve and grow their businesses and, in doing so, create much-needed jobs.