One of Africa’s top supply chains, Massmart, through a partnership with Raizcorp, aims to boost the capacity of local entrepreneurs to become preferred suppliers for its stores, which will soon operate under the flagship of international retailer Walmart.
The partnership with Raizcorp, an independent small business incubator, is part of Massmart’s strategy to source more goods locally and strengthen the company’s local supplier base.
Raizcorp would nurture the businesses, to deliver their products to market according to Massmart’s requirements and quality standards, and give them a chance to have access to divisional buyers.
A positive Grant Pattison, the chief executive of Massmart, said that local procurement made commercial sense.
Pattison added: “While black economic empowerment (BEE) is a strong focus of Massmart’s strategy… this initiative is also about building small businesses through this new opportunity.”
Allon Raiz, the chief executive of Raizcorp, said that the partnership was an opportunity for more local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to connect with Massmart and benefit from its retail distribution network.
“Here we have one of Africa’s retail giants using its procurement power to stimulate local SME development and growth,” Raiz said.
The agreement would also open doors to companies that would like to fund enterprise development programmes as a means of meeting their broad-based BEE scorecard obligations, by offering them the opportunity to sponsor the admission of potential suppliers to the Raizcorp incubation programmes.
Raizcorp has more than 220 small businesses in its support programmes that could benefit from fast-tracked access to Massmart buyers.
Massmart has welcomed the partnership because Raizcorp has an exemplary track record of success in helping small businesses to become sustainable and receives international acclaim for its work in SME development. Raizcorp’s policy is to screen its applicants and back those entrepreneurs who have the potential to succeed.
Massmart is renowned for being an industry leader in broad-based BEE and has attained the maximum score of 15 points for enterprise development on its BEE scorecard.
The JSE-listed group is the third-largest distributor of consumer goods in Africa. - Dineo Matomela