While South African President, Jacob Zuma, has repeatedly stressed the importance of small business enterprises in boosting South Africa’s economy, the government has produced only a fraction of the 5 million new jobs it promised it would deliver by 2020. In fact, it was recently noted that only 624 000 jobs were created in South Africa over the last ten years. In addition, while the President again stressed the importance of job creation in his state of the nation address held last week, he made no mention of the SME sector, which has proven itself around the world to be a key driver of job creation.
Accelerating business growth
However, the development of small business enterprises in South Africa could soon be accelerated, thanks to the verifiable and measured approach of The Vuka Mentorship Programme.
The programme is a structured enterprise development initiative which assists corporate companies to cultivate Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMEs) development, with the ultimate aim of creating SMEs that can supply products or services locally.
It operates in the space of micro-enterprise or qualifying small enterprises which are at least 50% black-owned or black woman-owned with turnovers of less than R1 million.
Notably, corporate companies that have contributed monies to The Vuka Mentorship Programme have taken the call to action to help grow the communities of South Africa.
Big corporate support
Sharon Reed, CEO of Neosho119, who runs The Vuka Mentorship Programme, further explains how the programme directly benefits companies who invest in it.
“Companies implementing entrepreneur mentorship programmes have never had a way to track entrepreneur investments, or measure how an entrepreneur is being developed. The Vuka Mentorship Programme tracking mechanisms guarantees a proper audited system which allows the rating agency, the company and the mentor to track entrepreneur progress.
“Thus, we provide corporate companies with peace of mind that their investment will not be wasted, and will result in the development of world class small business owners.”
The programme has been proven to ensure that survivalist entrepreneurs are systematically brought towards financial independence. Entrepreneurs with potential are initially identified during a one day interactive session, which determines the applicants’ aptitude for business success.
Reed concludes that The Vuka Mentorship Programme reaches far beyond the scope of other mentorship programmes.
“The logical, step by step process of the programme goes far beyond mentorship by sourcing potential individuals, assessing their capacity and mentoring community members to develop solid business ideas.
“Thus, the programme truly is the first of its kind in South Africa, as it is accelerating entrepreneurial growth, and unlocking the business potential of the masses, by providing opportunities to those who never would have had the chance to put their business ideas forward.
“Ultimately, this action will prove vital in assisting the government to achieve its job creation goals.”