Business Skills for South Africa

IBA programme for training and mentoring of SMMEs

The Institute of Business Advisers (IBA) has, in conjunction with the Tshwane Metro, since the start of 2012 been running an ongoing programme of training and mentoring SMMEs in Tshwane. Business advisers accredited by the IBA submit the names of entrepreneurs with specific problems, and training is held to address these issues, followed by mentorship.

Groups from various industries have approached the IBA to assist them in growing their businesses. BSSA was contracted to offer these groups training on costing and pricing, marketing, customer care, effective financial management, and business plans, followed by group mentorship.

Faranani Rural Women Training Initiative

BSSA has offered business skills training courses to hundreds of women as part of PwC’s ongoing Faranani Rural Women Training Initiative. This initiative was launched by PwC in 2006 as the company's contribution to developing entrepreneurship among women. The programme aims to nurture women with drive and desire to become business owners by providing them with the necessary know-how to get started.

The pilot project was launched in Limpopo in November 2006, with BSSA training 100 women in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gauteng.

The dti network facilitators

The Black Business Supplier Development Programme (BBSDP) of the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) was introduced in 2002 to address the constraints that many black-owned small enterprises faced in participating in the mainstream economy. The BBSDP provides a matching grant to enterprises to assist them in improving their competitiveness through for example upgrading managerial capabilities, market development and quality improvement projects. Independent so-called "network facilitators" assist small enterprises to access the BBSDP matching grants.

BSSA has been contracted to improve the competencies of some of the network facilitators to assist more small entrepreneurs to benefit from the BBSDP programme. The next phase of the training programme will be rolled out during 2013.