South Africa is one of the strongest economies in Southern Africa – and provides economic shelter for many in the region – through jobs, skills transfer and trade. Yet it is at cross-roads. Numerous Government poverty alleviation strategies since 1994 have not been effective enough to stem the rising tide of poverty, and the gap between rich and poor is now larger than ever.

One of the stumbling blocks to success in the country is the shortage of appropriate skills – and in particular skills that support growth and development at grassroots level.

Shared Interest Foundation has a long established relationship with South African based consultancy Fetola Mmoho and we have teamed up to develop training modules and capacity building work to address these issues within small craft businesses throughout the country.

This expanded small business development programme is based on a model which connects locally owned & managed community craft shops to tourism routes. It will help crafts people to step up the value chain from their traditional role as producers to the more lucrative role of retailer. The creation of successful community craft shops will increase the proportion of sales income to the local communities, thus improving impact in these rural areas.

The expanded programme will provide selected groups and individuals with practical and applied craft retail skills. The sustainable business development outcomes are

1. Community Owned Retail Businesses
   1. Black ownership up the supply chain
   2. Job creation – in the shop and through growth of the local supply chain
   3. Income Generation – including higher (retail) profit margins
2. Personal development & empowerment of communities, especially vulnerable – women, the rural poor and youth, through
   1. Skills development
   2. Personal Development including personal Financial management
   3. Local economic opportunity

So far we have completed and piloted three out of the 6 training module’s with the remaining three well on there way to completion.

This is an extremely exciting partnership for the Foundation and we hope to expand on this project in the coming years.

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