Volkswagen South Africa:Enterprise Development

Posted by Daniel Makhura on 21 September 2017 8:10 AM SAST

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 Mrs Msitshana wanted to find a way to finish building her house. If only she knew how to make bricks – then she could build it herself. Together with other women she contacted her municipality and the Volkswagen Community Trust. The trust sent them on a brickmaking and business skills course. Fourteen years later, she hasn’t just completed her house. She has helped build hundreds of houses for others.

Our hands-up not hands-out philosophy leads us to fund initiatives that help people to help themselves. The Volkswagen Community Trust supports local entrepreneurs through training and initial capital, so that they can create jobs for themselves and their communities. Our success stories include the Khayamnandi Community Cooperative, which manufactures bricks to the building industry and a sewing cooperative that manufactures cloth bags for leading retailers.

Furthermore the Volkswagen Community Trust strives to fund projects and initiatives that help people to help themselves. We do this by supporting initiatives that train people in the community with specific skills and by funding capital so that they can not only get jobs, but even create their own jobs.

Take a look at two of our many Enterprise Development initiatives that help to create jobs for people in disadvantaged communities:

VW Business Support Centre

In 2011, the VW Group SA partnered with Raizcorp with the aim to boost and promote small businesses in Nelson Mandela Bay. The VW Business Support Centre is the first Raizcorp business unit in the Eastern Cape.

VWSA invested millions into this project to provide local entrepreneurs with comprehensive training so that they come out of it as motivated and competent individuals. In return for our investments, these entrepreneurs go on to grow their businesses and to create job opportunities for others; therefore increasing the employment in our community.

The VW Business Support Centre is another prime example of how we wish to achieve our goal of giving the community the opportunity to sustain a better life and future.

GUSCO (Greater Uitenhage Sewing Cooperation)

GUSCO is a fantastic Enterprise Development initiative that has helped to employ over 65 women from previously disadvantaged groups. In 2004, three sewing groups joined to form GUSCO; and with the financial and business guidance from us and supporting corporates, these women are able to follow their passion of sewing and make a living off of it.

The GUSCO team now rent a 120 square metre premises from us due to their growing demands and the need for a bigger workspace. They furthered their entrepreneurial opportunities by meeting the very strict standards of Woolworths and now they sew the recyclable shopping bags for them.

Below is the list of the Enterprise Development organisations we fund:

VW Business Support Centre
GUSCO (Greater Uitenhage Sewing Cooperative)
TATI (Tinarha Agri Tourism Initiative)
Khayamnandi Women in Development