The sessions follow a series of workshops teaching the SMMEs to address the daily challenges of trying to access new markets and new business opportunities.
This year marks the eighth edition of the programme which is funded by the City and administered by Smart Procurement World. The 2024 programme is taking a targeted approach to buyer-seller linkages and aims to connect small businesses with clients across the province, country and continent over an eight-month period.
‘This year, we are taking the Smart Supplier Programme to a whole new level. I am really excited to see the SMMEs not only put everything they’ve learned to the test just a few weeks into the course, but to see that tangible gains are already coming to fruition for them through this project. Since its inception in 2016, 1 800 buyer opportunities have been created for the programme’s 140 finalists, resulting in an estimated R20 million in business opportunities. The opportunities this year promise to be bigger than ever!’ said Alderman James Vos, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth.
In the match-up sessions, the programme’s SMME participants sit down with prospective clients in the private and public sectors. There will be four match-up sessions, each with a focus on clients in different industries. In this first session, the SMMEs met with buyers in the aviation, construction, energy and mining industries.
‘The Smart Supplier Programme, like others offered by our Business Hub, are continuously honed to meet the developmental needs of SMMEs that need to grow in an ever-changing economic environment. These growing businesses are at the heart of job creation so when we give them the right knowledge and networking tools, not only are they better equipped to keep their doors open, but they can expand and employ more people. This is why Cape Town is at the centre of economic growth and opportunity in South Africa,’ said Alderman Vos.
