Faranani 2020

Tribute paid to women entrepreneurs for their outstanding business skills

Outstanding women entrepreneurs were awarded their graduation certificates at a ceremony held in Midrand today, following an intensive training initiative provided by PwC to build up the business skills of women from previously disadvantaged communities.

Annually, PwC contributes to building the skills of more than a hundred under privileged women from rural areas throughout the country through the Business Skills South Africa (BSSA) foundation to provide business and entrepreneurial skills to previously disadvantaged communities in order to create jobs, promote sustainability and increase revenue streams. In 1992, PwC and the National Industrial Chamber established the Business Skills for South Africa (BSSA) Foundation to provide business and entrepreneurial skills to previously disadvantaged communities.

In 2006, PwC extended this further to rural women in business through an initiative called the Faranani Rural Women Training Initiative. The aim of this project is to unlock the business potential of rural women and empower them to generate their own income and become meaningful contributors to the South African economy.

Shirley Machaba, CEO for PwC Southern Africa and Faranani Rural Women Training Initiative National Director, says:

“PwC is committed to the upliftment of women in South Africa and firmly believes that by inculcating a culture of entrepreneurship amongst women, it can help to empower them to generate their own income and become meaningful contributors to the South African economy.

“At PwC, our purpose it to build trust in society and solve important problems, and in line with the understanding that inequality, poverty and unemployment are some of the most pressing issues facing our country at present, we believe that these are some of the areas where we can help make a difference.”

Faranani’s vision is to actively participate in the skills development initiative as part of the Government’s strategies and priorities aligned through the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA), Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA), National Development Plan, the National Growth Path and the nine-point plan.

The project has been rolled out across the country, in Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Gauteng, North West, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, with BSSA providing training as well as three months of mentorship and after-care support.

The women are taught how to develop a business plan, which is supported by financial projections, financial management, pricing and costing, practical marketing, and business management. On completion of the course the women are able to understand amongst many other things, how profit is calculated in a business; understand the facts which determine the ‘right price’; understand the concept of working capital; prepare a budget; understand the importance of stock control; prepare cash flow projections; and know how to present a business plan to financiers.

From the date of launch of the initiative to the end of 2019, 3 659 women had been through the Faranani training, with 50 women expected to be trained this year (in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape).

Annually, PwC contributes R2,4m to BSSA, of which R1,2m is spent on Faranani.

Faranani graduates who have started their own entities and acquired their B-BBEE status are 100% black-owned entities involved in small businesses ranging from manufacturing, B&B management construction, catering, hairdressing, flower arranging, home décor, dress making, agriculture, transport, event management and many more.