Birth of partnership to rebuild informal sector

The South African Informal Traders Alliance (Saita) and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC) have announced the launch of an ambitious joint relief fund aimed to benefit members of the informal sector that were victims of the recent unrest and looting.

Known as the ‘Build Back Better’ campaign, the initiative is a grant funding meant to respond and assist informal traders who were most affected by the looting

Louise Silver, national head of communications at Saita, which is the official voice of more than two million informal traders in South Africa, said at the launch of the relief fund that the extremely ambitious campaign was the result of a venture aimed at creating more than a million jobs by 2023 in this sector alone.

Silver said the grant was meant to support the most vulnerable from business closure, job losses and income reductions, to provide resources to promote social inclusion in the building back of businesses destroyed during the unrest.

“We also aim to re-establish supply chains and routes to markets while at the same time supporting entrepreneurship and strengthening business partnership,” she added.

The other aim of the grant fund is to provide support to the social and solidarity economy to fulfil their mission in relation to responding to impacted community needs and to invest in small businesses and traders which have suffered the effects of the unrest.

IDC’s head of partnerships programmes David McGluwa said the collaboration will not only help to restore the businesses to pre-unrest levels but will also serve as a platform to reinforce the sustainability and resilience of the businesses supported.

Saita further invites all informal trader alliance partners within the provinces to ensure that their members are represented in this exciting phase.

Details: Louise Silver 087 094 8501.

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