Small businesses have the power to make a big impact on South Africa’s economic growth and on job creation; but they often lack the business skills, support, resources and connections to capitalise on opportunities. Recognising this, the City of Cape Town is offering small local enterprises a big helping hand through the 2022 Smart Supplier Readiness Programme and Competition.

Now in its sixth year, this programme aims to empower and advance small businesses, and ensure that they are ready to do business with the city and large organisations. The City of Cape Town has again joined forces with Smart Procurement World to offer this powerful training and market linkage initiative that has been boosting small businesses since it was launched in 2016. All small business owners based in the City of Cape Town are invited to submit their entries before 11 March 2022 and stand a chance to take part and reap the benefits.

This year’s programme has a new aspect that will ensure that small businesses receive support in the specific areas where they need it most, reveals Smart Procurement project manager Keshni Reddy. “For the first time, part of the entry process this year entails the small business owners providing details of exactly where they need help most. A series of masterclasses will then be developed and offered based on the submissions received,” she expands.

Outlining the format of the 2022 Smart Supplier Readiness Programme, Reddy explains that participants will receive high impact training and support from some of the country’s top business experts and coaches. The sessions will take the form of two masterclasses as well as an invaluable “Ask the Experts Clinic”. The qualifying applicants will go through an intensive three-week programme.

The competition element will see the trainees evaluated on the application criteria, as well as on in-class participation and the successful completion of the work assigned. The uniqueness and scalability of each business will also be considered. The top 30 graduates from the training programme will enjoy exceptional market access opportunities as they will be linked to regional, national and continental buyers.

Reddy expands on the other benefits for the top 30 small businesses: “For one year after the competition, these participants will enjoy access to a market linkage programme through which they will be introduced to regional and national corporate buyers. They will have opportunities for face-to-face networking with a selection of the top buyers in the Cape Town region.”

The successful graduates will get to take away hugely beneficial marketing material that they will be able to use to promote and grow their businesses. “They will each receive a professionally edited, two-minute-long buyer pitch video to use for the programme’s market linkage sessions as well as for their own marketing and buyer engagements,” Reddy explains. “Bragging rights as one of the city’s top recognised suppliers will also be a big boon for the top 30, and they will enjoy the spotlight at the live celebration cocktails event that will be attended by stakeholders from the City of Cape Town, business leaders and the media,” she adds.

Previous years’ beneficiaries have had high praise for the City of Cape Town’s Smart Supplier Programme. Robyn London from Focus Cleaning commended the “MatchUp” process. “It was presented by buyers who go through the actual procurement processes and what they require and look for in a business,” she noted.

“We got exposure to new information during the sessions with buyers,” enthused Tshik Tshibwabwa Kabwe from Total Hygiene.

The group engagements during the Supplier Match-Up Session were very beneficial, according to Benneth Chabalala from Vuenti Enterprise.

Entries for the 2022 Smart Supplier Readiness Programme close on 11 March 2022.

To qualify to enter, businesses must be based in Cape Town, must have been in operation for at least 18 months and must be owned by a South African citizen. Exempted Micro Enterprises (EME) and Qualifying Small Enterprises (QSE's) that are 51% black owned and managed are invited to participate. “The other criteria for entrants is that they must be able to handle increased market demands and must have a competitive advantage in the market that they trade in. The entrant must also be a registered supplier with the Central Supplier database and a City Vendor,” Reddy states.