Massmart/Raizcorp partnership to develop SMEs

The partnership with will offer incubated companies, in the various programmes, the opportunity to be selected as preferred suppliers to Massmart. Raizcorp's role is to nurture these small businesses and assist them to bring their products to market according to Massmart's requirements and quality standards and facilitate and accelerate their access to the group's divisional buyers.

Massmart CEO Grant Pattison states that local procurement makes commercial sense. At the same time, the company is excited to be able to make a strong contribution to enterprise development. "While BEE is a strong focus of the group's strategy," said Pattison, "this initiative is also about building small businesses through this new opportunity."

"Here we have one of Africa's retail giants using its procurement power to stimulate local SME development and growth," says Allon Raiz, CEO of Raizcorp. He says that the partnership holds the opportunity for more local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to engage with the group and potentially benefit from its retail distribution network.

Small businesses owners, of all races, that are interested in becoming potential suppliers can apply to join the Partner Elite incubator programme, which focuses on partnering with SMEs to help them become profitable and grow to the next level.

The agreement will also open doors to companies that would like to fund enterprise development programmes, as a means of meeting their broad-based BEE scorecard obligations, by offering them the opportunity to sponsor the admission of potential suppliers to the incubation programmes. Raizcorp already has more than 220 small businesses in its support programmes. These small businesses could stand a chance to benefit from fast-tracked access to Massmart buyers.

Massmart has welcomed the partnership, because Raizcorp has an exemplary record of success in helping small businesses to become sustainable and receives international acclaim for its work in SME development. Its policy is to screen its applicants and back those entrepreneurs who have the potential to succeed.

Massmart is the third largest distributor of consumer goods in Africa and has nine retail and wholesale brands under its umbrella, namely; Game, Dion Wired, Makro, Builders Warehouse, Builders Express, Builders Trade Depot, CBW, Jumbo Cash & Carry and the Shield buying group.