Growth-Link Integrated Solutions is well-established – not only in the mining and related sectors but also in sectors such as FMCG; engineering; transportation; construction as well as clients in service delivery industries. The experience gained over a timespan of more than 21 years enables us to provide these clients with custom-designed solutions to address their specific development and training needs.

Although most of our current clients are from the mining sector; one of the biggest projects ever embarked on was for a FMCG client – Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA).

ABI (Amalgamated Beverage Industries) approached Growth-Link in 2007 to assist with an intervention to empower and equip spaza shop owners to become more sustainable. Spaza shops; that will play an integral part in not only township economies; but the South African economy as a whole; were under threat due to major changes in (especially) the macro-economic environment. Such threats; amongst others; were the opening of big malls in townships changing the buying behaviour of traditional spaza shop customers. This resulted in more spaza shops closing down than new one’s opening up and not only did ABI lose money invested in such ventures; but it also resulted in job losses and the loss of livelihoods.

In response to ABI’s request, Growth-Link designed a 3-day NQF aligned programme ‘Growing my Business’ to equip spaza shop owners to address such challenges.  The first year we trained 579 community members across South Africa and a total number of 4 982 delegates up to the end of 2015.

In 2016 ABI merged with Shanduka Beverages and Coca-Cola SABCO to establish Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA).

As part of the merger conditions set by the Competition Tribunal, CCBSA had to develop 25 000 South African small business owners for the period 2016 – 2020 and Growth-Link was appointed for this purpose.

The main objective with the mandatory required development initiative was to empower South African small business owners with the necessary skills to not only become more successful; but to also expand and grow their existing ventures – resulting in business sustainability and job creation. A big focus was also on the empowerment of women and 58% of the total number of delegates trained were female (prospective or established) small business owners.

This target was achieved at the end of 2020 – despite numerous challenges experienced during the last year due to the Corona pandemic and subsequent regulations.

From the start of the project in 2008 and the review in 2016, the programme had to be adapted in many ways to remain relevant and practical executable, some examples are:

• 1-day non-unit standard aligned programme for L & T owners (local and traditional business owners)
• 1-day unit standard aligned programme (NQF level 1) for L & T owners
• Distance learning model with frequent telephone coaching sessions.

As part of Growth-Link’s longstanding relationship; first with ABI and later with CCBSA; numerous other interventions were also created and implemented over time to address development needs for different target groups. Such interventions included the following:

• Hawker training (1 day)
• Waste reclaimers programme (1 day)
• Youth Empowerment Programme (BizNiz-in-a-Box - 3 days; NQF 2)
• Adjusted Youth Empowerment Programme (BizNiz-in-a-Box- 5 days; NQF 1 & 2)
• Coaching sessions for L & T owners (1-day)
• Customer service training for Driver-owners and delivery crews

Since the first group of 32 delegates were trained in May 2008 in Rustenburg to the conclusion of the training in December 2020; a competency rate of more than 95% was obtained by delegates attending NQF-aligned training whilst a staggering satisfaction rate (learner feedback) of 96.5% was achieved.

Other notable feedback was the following:

• 6% of delegates indicated that attending "Growing my Business" increased their confidence level to manage their businesses
• 100% of delegates indicated that attending the training improved their business skills
• 99% of delegates reported an increase in sales after attending the training

Not only had this project been personally fulfilling for all individuals involved, it also highlighted some of Growth-Link’s best attributes:

• Creating practical and exiting learning interventions by combining theory, individual- and group activities and using multiple learning aids, i.e., animated video clips, simulated fridges to pack, tracking posters to use in store…

• Creating customised contents where generic contents and client-specific information is merged and regularly updated to remain relevant (i.e., CCBSA merchandising guidelines)

• Simplifying assessment processes to make accredited learning accessible to individuals without limited prior education.
• Flexibility and delivery capability in providing training in 10 of the official South African languages across 8 provinces (Western Cape excluded) in venues ranging from town halls to taverns.
• Strong training coordination and administration abilities to administer large training rollouts where up to 6 703 delegates were trained nationally in ten (10) months. The team at CCBSA responsible for the project has stated that the Growth-Link team “creates peace of mind” during major rollouts.