Training boost for 800 Jozi inner city SMMEs

21 August 2015

 

More than 800 small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in the Johannesburg inner city will receive a major boost ahead of the Joburg Shopping Festival in September and October.

 

The festival is hosted by the City of Johannesburg in partnership with Visa, Gauteng Tourism Authority, South African Airways, City Lodge, Gautrain and Uber. The small retailers – operating along the Bree Street Corridor, which links the Bree Street Taxi Rank to the Johannesburg Park Station – will receive training on how to better manage and grow their businesses.

Festival founder James Delaney said the training was aimed at improving customers’ “shopping experience in the area”.

 

“The shops located along the Bree Street Corridor are thriving businesses that will further benefit from the training we are rolling out to them prior to the Joburg Shopping Festival,” said Delaney.

 

The corridor is a hive of activity, with small shops offering a variety of goods – from textiles to technological gadgets. With the majority of customers using the nearby Park Station, the busiest transport hub in South Africa, Delaney said the training would open the way to increased business activity. Store owners, managers and sales assistants will be given customer care and improved cash handling training.

 

“Together with Visa, we are working with the store owners to take their business from a cash-based stream to a safer and more reliable platform,” said Delaney.

 

Joburg Tourism’s Laura Vercueil said the festival, now in its second year, played an important role in the economy.

 

“It is going to attract thousands of local, regional and international visitors. This will result in an impressive boost to the local economy, not only financially but also through skills transfer and training. Increased spending increases the economic impact of the festival, which in turn is going to positively impact on local employment,” said Vercueil.