Business Skills for South Africa

In 2011, BSSA did not escape the challenges faced by the South African economy in the aftermath of the worldwide recession. The network of accredited trainers through which BSSA delievers many of its larger programmes has shrunk, and a number of larger private sector funders of training have restructured or refocused their enterprise development programmes.

The Foundation nonetheless trained a total of 1 307 learners during the period – 1 224 SMME participants attended the programme for owner-managers, and 83 advisers participated in business adviser training.

The training of 433 of the SMME learners was sponsored by PwC as part of the Faranani Rural Women Training Initiative, 409 by the Tshwane Metro, 208 by the Middelburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 62 by Lonmin-IFC, 40 by the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP) and 14 by the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS).

Of the business advisers, 53 were sponsored by the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda), and 29 attended training requested by the Department of Trade and Industry as part of the dti’s Black Business Supplier Development Programme (BBSDP).