Limpopo Businesspeople Confident of Entering Export Market After the dti Training |
| A group of twenty Limpopo businesspeople who attended the two-day Global Exporters Passport Programme (GEPP) training session that was hosted by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) in Polokwane from 24-25 October 2019 expressed confident that the training has equipped them with the necessary knowledge, skills and information to succeed in the export market.
The purpose of the programme is to provide training to mainly small businesses that wish to operate in the export market. The programme, which is part of South Africa’s national export strategy, aims to prepare companies to be export-ready. The businesspeople learnt about various aspects of operating in the export market in order to be competitive and sustainable. They were attending the third and last phase of the programme which addresses issues related to market access, targeting specific markets, implementation of the marketing plan, customs and taxation, product branding for a specific market and market research. All of the businesspeople participating in the session were left green with envy when the facilitator, Mr Mark Adams informed them that South Africa exported goods and services worth more than US$94 billion in 2018. He emphasised the importance of exports to the country’s economic growth and job creation objectives. He used Germany and The Netherlands as case studies on how participants could properly analyse a potential export market before attempting to penetrate it, in order to assist them in making a decision on whether the particular market is suitable for one’s products or services. He said in the first quarter of 2019 South Africa exported goods and services to Germany and The Netherlands to the value of more than R24 billion and R10bn, respectively. The Director of Metswereng Foodcor, Mr Peter Moagi, whose company manufactures cosmetics from the moringa leaves, said he learnt a lot about how to prepare one’s company for the export market. “It has been emphasised during all the three phases of the programme that we were being prepared to be export-ready. I am confident that the knowledge and skills that I have gained here will enable me to successfully export our products to different markets. The training has equipped us with appropriate information that we require to penetrate various international markets. I am confident that we will also be exporters soon,” added Moagi. The Director of Diron Raps Business Enterprise, Mr Ronald Dikgari was excited about the prospects of his company exporting its jewellery and beaded products to various countries. He recently participated in an international trade exhibition in the United States of America where he was part of the delegation funded by the dti. “I really feel empowered after attending all the three phases of this programme. After getting an opportunity to showcase our products in an international exhibition in the USA, we can only move forward from here and become successful exporters. The knowledge and skills that I acquired and the experience of being part of an international exhibition will assist us greatly when implementing our export marketing strategy,” added Moagi. The Director of Serampana Décor and Florists, Ms Bellah Makhafola admitted she knew virtually nothing about exporting before enrolling for the first phase of the programme. “Now I have learnt almost everything about the export business. What is left is for me to implement the export marketing plan that I have developed as part of the assignments. I am confident that after gaining some practical experience in the business of exporting, our company will grow. The programme has really been an eye opener,” said Makhafola. The Global Exporters Passport Programme has benefitted about 3 000 companies that have received training in different phases since its introduction in 2013.
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