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Help for SMEs to become competitive

Bulelwa Tengwa (Supplied)
Bulelwa Tengwa (Supplied)
Cape Town - Bulelwa Tengwa, a 30-something mother of two and the owner of two Khayelitsha hair salons, is one of the first intake of 19 Khayelitsha-based participants in the Small Business Academy (SBA) of the University of Stellenbosch Business School’s (USB).   

She employs a staff of 10 serving a growing clientele of civil servants, professionals and community members.

She has owned the one salon since 2008 and the other since March this year.

Bulelwa finds that since joining the SBA her work has been more focused and targeted, achieving virtually immediate results.

One day she hopes to own her own business premises, just like her husband, who has a butchery, also in Khayelitsha.

That's not all. As her confidence grows, she is setting her sights on opening more branches in other parts of the Western Cape.

The SBA was established earlier this year to promote the sustainability of effective small businesses operating in townships and Khayelitsha was chosen as the first focus with the intention to target additional townships as the project grows.

The USB’s SBA provides business education to owners of small township businesses in an intensive, nine-month-long programme.

The programme is funded by the Distell Foundation and Absa, with additional donations from smaller companies, business school alumni, students and staff.

Every candidate is matched with a mentor, who is a graduate or a student of the business school.

MBA students are permitted to incorporate their mentorship work as part of their thesis research.

"It's extremely tough for many of the people on the programme," says Edith Kennedy, who is head of the business school’s alumni relations.

She also runs a weekly business advice clinic in Khayelitsha for many business operators. Not all of them are eligible for the SBA, but they can nevertheless benefit from tips for better business management and controls.

"What has become very apparent is the need to help people accurately identify the real reason for any setbacks they may be experiencing," says Kennedy.

"Very often these can present as logistical problems when they are more about HR, planning or research."

It is also about learning to build on competitive advantages.

- Fin24

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