East London BEST Game (Charity Funded Training)

Partner(s):

Niche underprivileged areas of need that may not be covered by SAIE’s formal training programs now benefit from SAIE’s business development training administered by Laura Baylis autonomously. Laura Baylis is a free lance instructor involved in the administration of SAIE’s training programmes. Laura trains community members at grass-roots level how to start and run their own businesses. East London communities have received BEST Game training from Laura Baylis. A city on the southeast coast of South Africa, East London situated in the Eastern Cape Province at 32.97°S and 27.87°E. The city is situated on the Indian Ocean coast, between the Buffalo River, and the Nahoon River. From the 1960s until 1994, the apartheid government created tax and wage incentives to attract industries in the former black independent states, including nearby Ciskei. Investment thus flowed into surrounding areas such as Fort Jackson and Dimbaza, leaving East London in relative isolation. East London is thus an ideal target for BEST Game training.

Our Involvement:

Beyond the regular, formalized long term programs like BEST Game and BusinessVENTURES, SAIE business development expertise is also leveraged through independent agents as “exclusive projects”. Because of the irregular character of the exclusive projects, they do not have an established, ongoing program implementation mechanism, thus “exclusive projects.” In most cases, independent agents conduct the training after receiving master trainer training from SAIE. In other cases, SAIE service providers and staff may conduct the training on behalf of the firm. The training is usually customized to meet the unique characteristics of the recipient groups.

Project Progress:

25 entrepreneurs (including 3 staff members of the clinic) and two facilitators received SAIE’s BEST Game training in January 2007. The levels of organisation were absolutely amazing in this project. An assistant called Gary had registered the trainees and sorted them into 2 groups depending on their life skills and education levels. Also most of those who registered also paid for the training in advance.

Most of the trainees applied themselves to the practical time and one lady worked very hard to make the most of that time. Only one person from both groups did not make a profit from this R20 start-up capital.

Funder:

Product:

Special Projects

Location:

Eastern Cape