JOHANNESBURG - In today’s challenging market the pressure is rising for South African Business role players to step forward and make real, impactful changes to drive economic inclusion and growth.
Businesses in South Africa, small or large, have a key role to play in job creation and skills development. Delivering on the digital workforce requirements of the 4IR and adapting strategies to increase socio-economic growth to positively influence South Africa’s future will be of paramount importance.
As a digital partner for businesses in South Africa, Vodacom Business will drive these conversations through roundtables with enterprises & platforms for skills development.
In 2019, Vodacom Business launched Fast Forward Series, which included workshops and interactive sessions, to do that - create a change within the South African business sector by providing leaders and business owners with the appropriate tools, skills and insights to help their businesses succeed in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Fast Forward will be returning in March 2020, following the success of the first series and will be extending physically into the Western Cape & digitally on Vodacom’s flagship video-streaming platform, Videoplay.
“This series is designed to promote business growth and strategic decision-making in an ever-changing environment for both C-level executives in large corporates and owners of small businesses. Vodacom Business understands that entrepreneurs often need digital solutions and resources for their businesses to thrive in the market today. With “unicorn companies” that change the game and disrupt industries, business strategies need to constantly evolve and as such, there is a definitive need for entrepreneurs to acquire new skills to regain their competitive advantage. This is why, Vodacom Business is excited to offer this initiative,” says Fatima Hassim, Managing Executive at Vodacom Business.
Nina Pieters, Owner of Extraordinary Events and Tours who attended the first series said “The sessions gave me a new perspective on running my business. It was refreshing to go there to learn. The course provided relevant topics for SMEs. It was great being given details on who to call for more information and help. They spoke about growth and shared great insights on running a business.”
“The Fourth Industrial Revolution has already begun to shift the business landscape. The challenges faced by businesses has increased at the same pace as their competitors and so our objective is to continue to provide a platform that will address key business challenges whilst focusing on empowering entrepreneurs to develop strategies to thrive in today’s digital economy,” adds Fatima.
Season Two of the series will include large enterprise roundtables that will focus on the future of business & digital transformation as a key theme with industry experts sharing their insights on the current technology landscape, challenges and future opportunities provided by digital technology.
Small businesses can register to attend the business acceleration programmes in partnership with Startup Grind, Vodacom Digital Advertising and Business Doctors. Business Owners can register to attend a Fast Forward acceleration session on the Vodacom Business website (vodacombusiness.co.za) and can choose to attend a workshop at either the experience centre in Vodacom World in Midrand, Johannesburg or their pop-up Business Experience space at The Young Bloods Gallery in Cape Town.
More information on the acceleration programmes is available on the website ( vodacombusiness.co.za)