Informal traders grow business

Another group of informal traders has completed the six-month Grow Your Business Programme, and have been given the tools to improve their enterprises.
INFORMAL traders were rewarded for their hard work when they were handed certificates of completion for the Grow Your Business Programme at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) on 26 November.

Informal traders get certificates for completing a business training courseInformal traders are awarded certificates for completing a business training courseWits Commercial Enterprise and the City teamed up on the programme, which has successfully trained more than 3 500 informal traders over the last six years. It forms part of the Adult Basic Education and Training programme.

It is aimed at better equipping the owners of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) to grow their businesses by providing basic business management knowledge and skills.

Grow Your Business is a six-month course, involving 14 classes offered on either Saturdays or Sundays. Six trained facilitators were contracted, two of whom dedicated themselves to teaching two classes each over the Saturday and Sunday sessions.

To cap off the 14-week course, an exhibition and prize giving ceremony was hosted on 26 November in the Wits Great Hall. The exhibition featured government departments such as the Department of Trade and Industry, Small Enterprise Development Agency and South African Revenue Services, and businesses such as Absa, First National Bank and Nedbank.

City entities such as Joburg Water, the Joburg Market and the Metropolitan Trading Company, as well as Johannesburg metro police department, also took part in the exhibition.

“The intention is to provide exhibitors with the opportunity to show informal traders what support is available in general for SMMEs as well as market specific products,” said the member of the mayoral committee for economic development, Sello Lemao.

“Businesses from across the spectrum [were] invited to present marketing information on business development guiding notes, business plans, what is required to open an account, information on loans, potential markets, and health and by-law enforcement matters,” he said.

The training of these informal traders was facilitated by the City’s department of economic development; it cost over R3-million, which came from the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) budget.

The programme arises from the recognition that small business owners have limited success in growing their businesses because of a skills gap in business management knowledge.

“As part of its investment, development and support for informal traders into the first economy, opportunities are being created as part of the City’s vision to transform itself into a globally competitive world-class city,” said the Joburg spokesperson, Virgil James.