RETAIL ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT
S E T A U D A R G D PROU
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ENTREPRE IP H S N W O T LE A M E F EMPOWERING nship Retail w pleted the Gauteng To Sixty-one women com programme ent Enterprise Developm
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he Gauteng Township Retail Enterprise Development Programme for Women celebrated 61 women who recently completed the programme. This programme has seen skills such as business management for microenterprises, one-on-one mentorship sessions and capital support take centre stage. At the ceremony, hosted at the Protea Hotel by Marriott in Johannesburg, the women from the townships of Soweto, Tembisa and Mamelodi were presented with certificates for successfully completing the programme.
Pumulani Ncube, an executive at Beehive Capital, who facilitated the programme, said: “Having such opportunities to impart skills in order to grow the township economy is vital. These skills will be used to grow businesses and to help identify other revenue streams that these women can exploit to grow their revenue.” The programme gave capital support by providing business tools such as tablets, airtime vending machines, South African Revenue Services (Sars) compliance and card swiping machines, and stock worth R10 000.
The Gauteng Township Retail Enterprise Development Programme for Women was established in 2017 and was funded by the Gauteng Department of Social Development. The objective of the programme is to empower township female entrepreneurs who are involved in the township retail industry. The programme was designed to make an impact on the lives of the participants. It was divided into segments: training sessions on basic business management for microenterprises, one-on-one mentorship sessions and capital support. The participants were exposed to various scenarios during training sessions. This enabled them to unpack the material and understand the retail industry and implement the knowledge they gained. To ensure the participants were guided through the programme, oneon-one mentor sessions were held. This promoted individual interaction between the mentor and participants to address the unique challenges faced by township retail businesses.
Mo's Bakery & Coffee Bar
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Pumulani Ncube, programme director
Spotong had the opportunity to chat to one of the recipients, Sibongile Rakgatjane, owner of Mo’s Bakery & Coffee Bar, who won R40 000, a Curro tender and a R10 000 Makro voucher. What knowledge have you gained from the programme and how has it assisted you in your small business? I gained and learnt so much! Each session concentrated on a different aspect of running an SME. I used to overlook things like marketing, my spending and customer service but the programme taught me their importance and I learnt how to manage and incorporate them
