SPAZA BUSINESS SKILLS COOPERATIVE

ABOUT THE ORGANISATION 

The Spaza Skills Development Cooperative is a cooperative established to promote township economies, with specialisation on spaza shops. Registered as EASTERN CAPE BUSINESS SKILLS NETWORK, the non-profit has the following objectives:

• uniting under a single body for the exchange of ideas, experiences and solutions.
• to own the development of communities.
• to speak in one voice with funders, legal and governance entities.
• to create a nerve centre for accountability and governance.

Members joined voluntarily. Directors of the cooperative have been appointed by fellow members of the cooperative and partners.

THE VISION

We want to be a movement that enables empowerment of local entrepreneurs in rural areas and townships in and beyond the Eastern Cape.

We want to provide peer support to new members, until the culture of running sustainable spazas is accomplished.  

HOW IT STARTED

Two years ago, an accountant, also a shop owner, identified struggles faced by locals in the efficient running of spaza shops in the community of Ugie, Eastern Cape. 

The gaps were in knowledge of business, limited access to capital, lack of competitive edge, stock management, pricing, managing of funds, compliance to regulations, etc. This drove the need to fill the skills gap and provide seed funding to needy entrepreneurs for efficiency and profitability spazas. Training 

To date, about 10 entrepreneurs have been trained on skills to run spaza's profitably, and seed funding to the tune of R50,000 has been spent in supporting them. 

THE ROAD AHEAD

In the short to medium term, the goal is to 

• support more entrepreneurs with seed funding
• expanding the vision further within Elundini Local Municipality, the Eastern Cape province and the country.
• Seek strategic partnerships with local municipalities and the Small Business Development Department, is being harnessed, towards realisation of the dreams of many.