In the latest initiative as part of its larger global collaboration with UN Women, the De Beers Group and United Nations Entity for Women for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women South Africa have announced the launch of a capacity-building programme to train 500 women micro-entrepreneurs in South Africa, as per reports in the local media.

The announcement coincides with the celebration of Women’s Month in South Africa.

The project will be focused on the communities of Blouberg and Musina, near De Beers’ Venetia Mine in Limpopo, the reports state, and will aim to equip women micro-entrepreneurs with business management and life skills to build their confidence and capacity to operate and grow successful small businesses.

The two selected municipalities have some of the highest levels of unemployment in Limpopo, according to the reports, and the partners believe that increased economic empowerment of women micro-entrepreneurs will deliver tangible results to the entire community.

As part of the initiative, the selected women will receive training to enhance understanding of business concepts including accessing markets, increasing market share, generating income, creating jobs, and supporting effective decision-making, communication and negotiation skills.

Mpumi Zikalala, Deputy CEO, De Beers Consolidated Mines, said, "When we empower women business owners, we empower entire communities as women are more likely to reinvest a greater portion of their profits into the community and actively support the creation of jobs for others.”

She added that women micro-entrepreneurs “find it difficult to access conventional mechanisms that support business growth and that is where this programme will play a crucial role”.

Anne Shongwe, UN Women Representative, South Africa Multi-Country Office, said, “Women micro-entrepreneurs do not always have the liberty to create boundaries between their personal and business needs or interests. With the limited earnings from businesses, they raise families and make valuable contributions to their communities and the country.”

She added that the programme “aims to build the business management skills through uniquely customised training and hand-holding that address the specific capacity challenges of micro-entrepreneurs”.

Currently, the preliminary phase of the programme is being finalised in association with the municipalities and local stakeholders.

Initial training workshops to equip local trainers with necessary skills will be held in October and training of the first batch of micro-entrepreneurs will begin in November. Sixteen local trainers have been identified, eight of which are from the Blouberg and Musina municipalities.

The first group of micro-entrepreneurs to be trained will consist of 60 enterprises that include retail, catering, agriculture, spaza shops and manufacturing businesses.

The programme is part of De Beers Group’s three-year global partnership with UN Women and its commitment to stand with women around the world.

As part of this partnership, De Beers Group is investing US$3 million to advance women micro-entrepreneurs and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) students in its diamond producing countries of Canada, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.