Business coaching for the disabled

Durban - An opportunity of mentorship was granted to 10 black disabled entrepreneurs at Sherwood, Durban, this week.

The Hope Factory, a non-profit company, has partnered with Transnet Pipelines South Africa to provide a specialised Enterprise and Supplier Development programme aimed at empowering and enabling entrepreneurs who are physically disabled to develop personal and business skills to grow and improve their businesses.

This is the first time that the Hope Factory, a national building entity at the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, has mentored disabled entrepreneurs.

Annie McWalter, chief executive of the Hope Factory said the organisation was willing to support the disabled as they grew and created job opportunities.

“There will be times of hardships on this journey but the most important thing is to rise up and learn. I encourage you to do what is right that will make you succeed,” she told the entrepreneurs.

“Transnet has asked to take the entrepreneurs on a year-long mentorship, so we do business analysis and look at what areas they need to grow in, then help them to become suppliers”, she added.

McWalter said there would also be capital that will go into their business as well as equipment that they needed to access markets and networking sessions.

Supplier and enterprise development specialist at Transnet Pipelines, Keitumetse Ntombela, said this was the third year that Transnet Pipelines had mentored entrepreneurs.

“Our company aims to tap into the segment of black disabled business owners, whom we at Transnet Pipelines have found through research and analysis still face barriers to accessing our procurement opportunities,” she said.

The Transnet vision was to see the beneficiaries progress from being “circumstantial” entrepreneurs to world-class and highly competitive business owners. The hope was that some would graduate into becoming a very active part of the Transnet Pipeline supply base.

Business mentorship, which remains at the core of the programme, was supported by a range of other services including specialised training, access to industry expertise, operational investments, networking, business clinics and financial services.

The one-year programme enables the beneficiaries to acquire knowledge and skills to empower and transform their lives and help them towards financial freedom and personal dignity.