Enterprise & Supplier Development
This pillar has the highest number of points in the amended B-BBEE sector codes. It touches on one of the top agendas of our time – contributing towards the economic growth of South Africa through empowering and supporting entrepreneurs and providing them with access to markets.
While the value of supporting small businesses is increasingly acknowledged, in practice it can often be difficult to bridge the gap between the capacity of the EMEs and the often high expectations and requirements in supply chains of companies.
Through the Enterprise and Supplier Development Strategy, we have identified various interventions and partnerships to assist EMEs to enhance their performance capabilities, and to adopt a market position in the competitive business environment.
The foundation seeks to nurture, grow and sustain black-owned businesses by providing technical & business development support through mentoring, coaching and back office support. In addition, loan funding is provided to qualifying EME suppliers, with the ultimate goal of natural progression to the supply chain management of our clients and thereby positively contributing towards their Preferential Procurement scoring.
We have established a team of experienced B-BBEE facilitators that are familiar with all industries within the Abcon Group and their partners. we host a database of entrepreneurs which are assisted to grow and become sustainable businesses.
In seeking to realise the operational and overall objectives of this programme, the AGF is involved in the growth of several different enterprise & supplier development initiatives as depicted below:
Guys in Green
A garden maintenance Enterprise Development. The AGF provided working capital and is currently mentoring and coaching the EMEs and providing them with access to markets and back office support.
Assistance for black-owned SMEs:
Roast Republic has grown from a dream into a thriving social enterprise. We run a roastery and a couple of cafés, and very soon our social franchise will be added to this ever-growing list. We roast and sell coffee from our home base in Johannesburg, South Africa.
We operate as a social enterprise which means we have a double bottom line as a business and a brand. Ours’ is simple – we give away 50% of our profits in the form of education development programs through our charity partner Youthzones. More recently we have partnered with Amaverkykers, an ED company, in launching a social franchise: creating opportunities for young entrepreneurs that are passionate about hospitality and owning their own business to acquire funding to own their own business and offer training and support for them to get the business profitable and sustainable.
The AGF provides funding to amaverkykers for start-up equipment and the refurbishment of the containers into a coffee shop. 2 site in the Abland’s precinct developments have been given to operate in, rent-free.
– Hill on Empire opened in June 2017
– Monte Circle opened in March 2018
A few initiatives are underway which contribute to more black owned SME’s accessing the market.