The first six-month course for 2010 has started at the Tiger Brands' Catering Incubator, run in association with the South African Chefs Association (SACA). It provides 28 budding caterers with the skills to build a career in the challenging and globally competitive world of cuisine. Zin Mabaso, managing executive: groceries at Tiger Brands, will oversee the project.
The programme assists in developing new and existing catering entrepreneurs, who will receive their training at the HTA School of Culinary Art, one of South Africa's leading chef training providers run under the leadership of Stephen Billingham.
The Culinary Arts Association of South Africa will conduct follow-up and mentoring. The Institute for Enterprise Development (IED) will provide business management skills and business administration skills through its entrepreneurial development courses, which provide the caterers with the knowledge they need to understand, manage, operate and grow a business.
Aiming to build capability
Bongiwe Njobe, executive director: corporate sustainability at Tiger Brands, said the programme aims to build capability in the cooking and catering sector among black-owned catering companies. "The group has always been interested in the evolution of food to suit the South African palate and we hope through this programme to build diverse capacity in the business areas in which we operate."
According to Njobe one of the challenges that most caterers face is that they are either entrepreneurs and/or 'cooks'. "Through this programme we will be able to provide them with not only the skills they need to be successful caterers but also the skills they need to be successful business people."
The second group of trainee caterers will start in July, with the aim to identify potential caterers from the rural and outlying areas around the country.
