Maponya Mall Community Hub will drive skills development for youth and exciting opportunities for entrepreneurs and small businesses
Johannesburg, 8 March 2023 – The Maponya Mall Community Hub officially opens its doors this month, featuring a new state-of-the-art facility and access to capacity-building initiatives, skills programmes, information and partnerships to ensure economic and social inclusion for the Soweto community.
The launch of the Community Hub, which forms part of an ongoing asset-based community development programme by Redefine Properties and our partners that include the Dr Richard Maponya Institute, FNB Philanthropy and Afrika Tikkun Foundation, comes after COVID-19 halted the work that had started in 2019.
Chief sustainability officer at Redefine Properties, Anelisa Keke, says the renewed and reinvigorated programmes will harness modern, cutting-edge tools to improve and positively impact on non-profit organisations (NPOs), small and medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs) and the youth operating within Soweto at a time when this type of support is desperately needed.
“The youth development programmes are aimed at ensuring the youth have sufficient resources to lead productive and fulfilling lives, while NPO development will ensure that NPOs and community-based organisations (CBOs) have the skills and ability to provide much-needed services in the community. SMME/entrepreneur development will take place through incubation, acceleration and supply chain development programmes to ensure that entrepreneurs have the support and skills to develop their businesses further themselves,” says Keke.
“With South Africa facing unprecedented challenges of stagnating growth, inflation and joblessness – even as the recovery from COVID-19 begins – our new state-of-the-art facility and related programmes offer avenues for renewal and hope,” she adds.
The implementation of a youth development programme in partnership with Afrika Tikkun will create a space for out-of-school youth to develop personal and technical skills.
“The Youth Accelerator Programme (YAP) is a four-month programme focusing on guiding youth to develop a keen sense of self, community, goals and skills. The overall purpose of the programme is to assist youth with a holistic development programme that facilitates growth and maturity in personal decision-making and provides an individual with the tools to implement their decisions going forward,” says Keke.
Two additional youth skills development programmes will focus on the retail sector (Retail Academy) and information and communications technology (ICT) sector (ICT and software development) to ensure candidates have the specific skills needed to enter the employment market in those industries.
“With immense hurdles of joblessness to overcome in South Africa, these programmes are aimed at increasing the employability of our young generation and ensuring they can gain access to the full benefits of the modern digital workplace,” she adds.
With SMMEs at the heart of the South African economy and critical to its recovery, SMME engagement is aimed at empowering the residents of Soweto to start and grow their own businesses.
Support programmes will help SMMEs prepare their products for market, and participants will attend masterclasses and coaching sessions to assist them with compliance and branding. The aim is to assist Sowetan SMMEs to sell their products in retail stores.
Meanwhile, the Community Hub will host quarterly online training programmes for NPOs, focusing on local fundraising and mobilising support. The main objective of the training is to support NPOs to:
- Acquire basic knowledge on effective fundraising and advocacy
- Identify current resource gaps and understand different donors/partners and their motives for giving
- Link branding communication to local resource mobilisation
- Access the Change the Game Academy online platform and utilise the modules for further learning
Follow the Community Hub online:
www.maponyamall.co.za | https://facebook.com/maponyamallsoweto
