As a strategic advisor and on-the-ground implementer of sustainable micro and small enterprise development, MEDO will be assisting Tsogo Sun with their Book a Guesthouse programme, a far-reaching initiative that is positioned within Tsogo Sun's SunCares sustainability in tourism plan, which incorporates entrepreneurial development, community development and environmental management. Book a Guesthouse is a skills-based entrepreneurial development programme that provides support to black South Africans, with a 92% concentration of women, who operate their own guesthouses. With 60 entrepreneurs at various phases of development within the programme's three year model, Book a Guesthouse has been instrumental in creating 258 jobs, while it supports over 2,000 jobs in the value chain.
"In the context of government's stated objective of creating five million new jobs by 2020, job creation is right near the top of the priority list in South Africa - and Tsogo Sun is contributing to this goal through programmes like Book a Guesthouse," says Candy Tothill, Group Internal Communications and Special Projects Manager at Tsogo Sun.
With 55% of the entrepreneurs having graduated into the Alumni phase, 33 Book a Guesthouse entrepreneurs have been successfully developed over the last several years. These Alumni are further developed to become mentors to the new entrepreneurs who enter the programme. There are currently 27 entrepreneurs in the active development phases, 17, in year two while the remaining 10 are in year three, with a further 30 to 40 enrolling into year one in this month.
Comments Judi Sandrock, Joint CEO of MEDO, "The view is that if small businesses can grow, the overall sector grows and our country benefits in the long run. It's a progressive and abundance mentality view that drives the Book a Guesthouse programme."
In support of entrepreneurial development in South Africa, Tsogo Sun will be supplying venues and accommodation to MEDO to ease the delivery of the enterprise development programmes. This is being done specifically to easily facilitate business trips and meetings outside of the entrepreneurs' frame of reference, helping them to expand their businesses.
For more information about Tsogo Sun's Book a Guesthouse visit the website at www.bookaguesthouse.com or on Facebook www.facebook.com/bookaguesthouse.
To apply and for more information on MEDO, visit www.medo.co.za. Follow MEDO on Twitter @MEDOnews.
