Fifty small businesses were offered an opportunity of a lifetime recently when they were sponsored by SAPREF to exhibit and market their offerings at the annual Durban Business Fair.

The businesses were given the platform to exhibit at the Fair free of charge by SAPREF as part of the refinery’s 50 year anniversary celebrations. In addition to carrying the costs for exhibiting, SAPREF assisted the business with materials to market their business effectively. These included business cards, brochures and banners. SAPREF has also committed to paying for Durban Chamber of Commerce membership fees and BBBEE certification for each exhibitor as a way of ensuring that these businesses continue to have access to business development opportunities and services. In addition, SAPREF has partnered with the eThekwini Business Support Unit to facilitate a customised training, mentoring and coaching programme for the 50 sponsored SMMEs and will also include the sponsored women business owners onto their Women Empowerment programme.

Although the businesses that took up the opportunity varied widely â€" from engineering firms to transformation consultants â€" all of them reported that the Fair had been an amazing platform to learn, to network and to sign up new clients. Busi Sibisi of Mahlase Cleaning Services, based at SAPREF was one of them. She says the exposure received has been incredible. “Being an Enterprise Development beneficiary of SAPREF has meant that I could showcase my business at the Business Fair at no cost for the 2nd consecutive year. Over the three days of the Fair I engaged with numerous potential clients and have already started negotiations for a potential contract with a Pietermaritzburg based company. I also found new products that could enhance the marketing of my business.” Naren Sukaih, Engineering and consulting firm in Umbogintwini, was equally overwhelmed by the response to his stand at the Fair. “I am amazed at the opportunities that the Business Fair provided for the generation of orders and networking. We had four potential leads in excess of R100 000.”

SAPREF was just as pleased with the response to the SDB stands at the Fair. Says Communications Manager Cindy Govender: “We are very pleased that the SMMEs made full use of the platform that we provided to them. The overall objective of our Enterprise Development programme is to assist the community by strengthening small businesses as they have huge capacity to create jobs. The 50 businesses that were part of the SAPREF pavilion at the Fair prove that with the right support and encouragement small businesses can thrive.”

ENDS