Telkom to nurture entrepreneurs through new full-spectrum programme

7th May 2015

By: Natasha Odendaal

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

Font size: - +

Information and communications technology (ICT) major Telkom on Thursday unveiled its new R100-million plus programme to incubate and develop starting up and existing entrepreneurs and small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs).

The ‘FutureMakers’ programme would bolster enterprise and supplier business development at scale, offering SMMEs access to much-needed funding, business development opportunities, all-important access to technology, long-term support and mentoring and access to incubators and innovation hubs.

“Telkom seeks to support ICT innovation, improve access to technology for SMMEs, create sustainable businesses in the ICT sector and, as a result, grow employment,” Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko said of the end-to-end ecosytem that would start with support for up to 100 entrepreneurs in townships.

Telkom would inject R100-million seed capital over a five-year period into a special purpose fund, FutureFund – independently managed by black female-owned fund management company Identity Development Fund – to extend financial support to SMMEs that supply Telkom or that work within the broader ICT sector.

FutureFund, which would provide support in the form of loans or equity to the value of between R250 000 and R10-million for expansion or start-up purposes, formed one of four pillars of development as Telkom moved to create “future-ready” businesses.

The programme, in line with Telkom’s enterprise and supplier development aims, would also invest in and harness the competitiveness of local suppliers and partners, potential suppliers, third-party distributors, Internet cafes and innovative ICT start-ups through the FutureSource initiative.

Creating a link to opportunities across the value chain, entrepreneurs attached to the FutureSource initiative would receive business development support, mentoring and training from “some of South Africa’s top SMME development providers", explained Telkom chief procurement officer Ian Russell.

“[Currently,] more than 40 suppliers have been assessed for the programme, with business plans prepared for shortlisted beneficiaries … [and] several third-party distributors have been assessed for the programme,” Telkom said.

The JSE-listed telecommunications giant was also currently establishing business incubation services – or FutureHubs – to provide a platform for stimulating innovation and technology uptake, reduce start-ups costs for new business and encourage a collaborative environment for developing enterprises.

At the Bandwidth Barn, in Cape Town, Telkom was introducing a new programme to source, develop and support high-innovation businesses to generate more than 20 high-technology business ideas in the ICT sector, of which at least five would be bankable.

The group was also undertaking a R5-million upgrade of a coworking and incubation space in the Tshimologong precinct, in Braamfontein, which would become Gauteng’s first business incubator for the ICT industry when completed in November.

Another five to six incubation hubs were in the pipeline, said Russell.

The fourth and final pillar of the FutureMakers programme, FutureProof, would provide opportunities to collaborate with “like-minded” partners focusing on ICT innovation.

“Telkom is actively partnering with other [ICT innovation-focused] organisations … which will contribute hardware, software, skills and capabilities to create sustainable jobs within SMMEs and help grow their revenue and market penetration,” the company pointed out.

Cisco and Telkom had teamed up to develop and capacitate black-owned ICT SMMEs with high-end skills to increase their competitiveness and help them expand, while Microsoft and Telkom planned to leverage their respective platforms to support start-up and growing businesses for up to five years.

Other partners included SAP and Accenture.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION