By Helmo Preuss
Delegates at the Township Economies conference and exhibition held at Emperors Palace Ekurhuleni yesterday heard that promoting the R900 billion township economies ecosystem would create jobs and grow the overall South African economy.
The theme of the conference was “Unlocking Township Economic Growth: Accessing New Markets”.
Township economies start from a position of necessity but as they tap into a vibrant culture of respect they manage to create some 2.5 million jobs, or 17%, of South Africa’s total employment.
To tap into this market and empower local entrepreneurs, Frederik Zietsman, the CEO of Takealot.com, highlighted the various barriers that a township consumer faced on a daily basis.
These were firstly, a limited choice as spaza shops could not carry a wide range of goods due to limited space. Secondly, spaza shops could charge higher prices as they had a captive market. This was largely because of the third challenge of transportation hurdles. Poor stock availability was the fourth challenge, while time consumption provided the fifth challenge. The lack of comparison shopping was the sixth challenge.
“These challenges highlight the significant role that online shopping can play in providing convenience, variety, and better pricing, especially in underserved areas like townships,” Zietsman said.
Takealot.com currently sources goods from global manufacturers and then delivers to township consumers. Most of this activity benefits players outside the township, so the e-commerce platform launched the Takealot Township Economy Initiative (TTEI) in April to move the benefits into the township by encouraging local manufacturers and having the last mile drivers living in the townships.
Takealot.com will pilot the TTEI in Gauteng and then roll it out to other provinces. At the moment it has targeted 20 Gauteng townships: Soweto, Tembisa, Alexandra, Katlehong, Mamelodi, Sebokeng, Soshanguve, Kagiso, Hammanskraal, Etwatwa, Ivory Park, Diepsloot, Vosloorus, Tsakane, Daveyton, Winterveld, Evaton, Ga-Rankuwa, Kwa-Thema and Mabopane.
In the past three months Takealot.com said it had signed up 200 local manufacturers, trained 50 drivers with a further 100 drivers onboarded and they had recruited 50 stokvel personal shoppers in Soweto.
“We empower township entrepreneurs by providing a significant advantage in market access and removing entry barriers. There is immense untapped potential in townships that we aim to unlock,” Zietsman added.
Looking ahead, the TTEI driver development programme will train and onboard 2 000 drivers for the franchise network, offering free training and career development opportunities. The personal shopper programme will recruit and onboard 5 000 personal shoppers, enabling them to earn commission fees by assisting consumers to buy on the Takealot platform and providing them with a qualification.
The Mr D Mzansi trailblazer restaurant programme will boost sales for independent restaurants on the Mr D Platform by waiving sign-up fees, offering training, advertising credits up to R1 000 and promotions.
The Superbalist stock reseller programme will support resellers by providing unsold or returned Superbalist stock at reduced rates, along with training and funding opportunities. Linked to this will be the Lokshin Auctions programme that would empower auctioneers across Gauteng and Western Cape townships. This will promote auctioneering as both a business opportunity and career option as it will provide skills development, certification and capability building for value creation.
The marketplace SME and local industrialisation programme will empower local manufacturers in townships by providing access to markets, logistics support, training and advertising credits.
Proudly South African CEO Eustace Mashimbye said that research had indicated that a 10% increase in investment in the manufacturing sector would create 75 300 jobs in manufacturing, while linkages to the rest of the economy would add 11 500 jobs in mining and 10 100 jobs in agriculture.
BUSINESS REPORT