Bridging South Africa's digital divide for rural entrepreneurs
John Nkosi is a wood crafter and a furniture maker from a remote area in Elukwatini in Mpumalanga, just on the border with eSwatini.
Nkosi travels to Johannesburg at least once a month to display his works at the Rosebank Sunday Market in Johannesburg where he meets most of his affluent clientele.
It’s a trip that costs a substantial amount of money in petrol and accommodation, sometimes not worth the investment if he does not make enough sales.
But thanks to the introduction of e-commerce through Takealot Township Economy Initiative in rural towns, Nkosi’s days of crisscrossing the country selling his wares will soon be over.
“An event like this will assist us especially because it is the connection between me and the technical team of Takealot, because when you go online trying to apply, it's hard to get to their system. But now, it's easy because I'm the one who is talking directly to them, there is eye contact, I think it will be easy,” he said.
Nkosi was speaking at the Mpumalanga launch of the Takealot Township Initiative in Elukwatini on Friday last week.
Mpumalanga is the second province where this initiative was launched following a launch in Gauteng in April.
Takealot aims to create 20 000 jobs through the initiative by 2028.
The initiative features six different programmes aimed at empowering entrepreneurs in the townships by making products locally, helping small businesses, and creating jobs.
The initiative includes a personal shopper programme, last metre driver development, franchise development, Mr D Mzansi trailblazer restaurant programme, Superbalist stock reseller programme, and marketplace SME and local industrialisation programme.
Tshepo Marumule, the head of external affairs and public policy at Takealot said their view was that the most sustainable way to grow penetration of e-commerce is to present the opportunities of e-commerce to people before presenting the products they want to sell.
Marumule said the Township Economy Initiative was aimed at informing entrepreneurs on how to get into the Takealot platform and grow their business since e-commerce penetration in South Africa is still around 6-7%.
“e-commerce presents the opportunity to democratise access to opportunity. Somebody here can sell to somebody in Sandton. e-commerce and technology presents an opportunity for township entrepreneurs to access different markets in a way that has not been done before,” Marumule said.
“The value proposition of this location [Elukwatini] is that we can reach anywhere in terms of delivery of goods. But can we reach everywhere in terms of access to opportunity? That's a question that people still have So being here and demonstrating the accessibility of the platform as a place of opportunity for personal shoppers or for the people who are making goods and products here was important so that people can understand that they don't have to come to Joburg. They don't have to go to Nelspruit. From here, with the infrastructure that's here, they can have access to Takealot,” Marumule added.
This is a sentiment that was shared by Nomcebo Mavuso of Crochet Handcraft, a small business that manufactures and sells handmade fabric baskets, ornaments, handbags, backpacks and other bespoke items.
“I'm good at producing, but I'm bad at marketing. So in business you cannot just make products and they gather dust. You need to communicate with the clients, and that is what I am hoping this initiative will do for my business,” Mavuso said.
Mpumalanga MEC for Economic Development and Tourism, Makhosazane Masilela said they were more than determined to work with Takealot in supporting township and rural businesses with a series of targeted support interventions aimed at addressing the legacy of spatial exclusion faced by many small businesses.
Masilela said her department had agreed to cooperate and collaborate with Takealot to develop more small businesses in the province through unlocking new market opportunities, improving economic infrastructure, and enhancing entrepreneurial skills.
“To this end, the partnership we are entering into with Takealot today is another significant stepping stone in our quest to translate the overarching goal of economic transformation into reality,” she said.
“Undoubtedly, this is a partnership that will, in my view, add impetus to the initiatives that the government has been and continues to roll out regarding the development of small businesses in all the main sectors of the provincial economy.”
BUSINESS REPORT