Johannesburg – The department has developed a new approach to the provision of support to SMMEs in tourism.
The objective of the department’s enterprise development and support programme is to provide development support to SMMEs to improve their sustainability in the sector.
The key focus areas include:
(i) Provide non-financial business support to SMMEs.
(ii) Establishment and business support and tourism incubation programmes.
The purpose of this project is to implement a programme that will provide non-financial support for a period of 18 months: 12 months of business support and six months of mentorship. The project will cover 225 women-owned tourism sector SMMEs across the country.
Deputy Minister of Tourism Fish Mahlalela said: “SMMEs are the backbone of the tourism economy and that self-reliant township and rural economies can bode well for tourism.
“Township and rural economies are made up of small- and medium-sized businesses that are vital to the development of our tourist economy. SMMEs can aid in the sector’s return to pre-Covid performance levels and its long-term sustainable growth trajectory that fully realises Africa’s vast and diverse tourism potential.”
Mentorship and training
The National Tourism Sector Strategy, under the pillar – People Development – calls for the development of programmes to ensure transformation of the sector.
One of the initiatives recommended is the establishment of a formalised national mentorship programme.
The department has recently launched a pilot national mentorship programme, a very important aspect of skills development, transformation and development.
“We believe that mentorship can be a major enabler to support, grow and transform the many micro enterprises in the industry, as well as provide support to their networks of students and women,” says Mahlalela.
“I am pleased that this pilot mentorship programme is initiated by the private sector, the Tourism Business Council of South Africa [TBCSA] in conjunction with the National Mentorship Movement of South Africa [NMMSA].”
The goals of the programme are to:
• Provide opportunities for students interested in tourism to meet and observe experienced professionals in a given tourism sector at work.
• Provide opportunities for youth to learn and be mentored by potential employers in tourism for the purpose of direct employment.
• Provide the resources to interested tourism businesses willing to mentor students and/or young professionals interested in their sector of tourism for the purpose of employment.
• Provide students and/or young professionals the opportunity to network with more experienced professionals in different sectors of the industry.
Tourism Project
The department has made progress in investing in rural economies. For example, the department, through the Working for Tourism Programme, funded and handed over the Metsi Matso Lodge project in Qwa Qwa, Free State.
The project is built on communal land under the custodianship of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform. The owning entity is the Metsi Matso Trust, who actively participated in the project until it was completed.
The project was handed over to the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, which continues to act as a custodian of the project on behalf of the Metsi Matso Trust.
Workers were sourced from the local communities and a total of 131 and 65 people were employed for phases one and two of the project, respectively. The project was funded and constructed in phases until it was completed in 2016.
The Department of Tourism also assisted the Metsi Matso Trust with the process of identifying a suitable private sector operator for the lodge. The Metsi Matso Lodge Pty Ltd was appointed by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform on behalf of Metsi Matso Trust. The operator commenced with the operations in early 2018.
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