Through BBEEE initiatives, South African corporations are tasked with building more sustainable businesses and playing a greater role in economic transformation.

According to the group, this often presents a challenge: How can a business comply in a way that protects or enhances its competitiveness, while also realising value for its shareholders, customers, value chain partners and the communities in which they operate?

Proactive has identified an opportunity for an enterprise development programme that moves beyond value chain strategies. It aims to take a strategic approach that both creates positive social impact and drives business value from other expenditures. 

Rethinking spaza branding
Township economies promote and foster job creation and entrepreneurship, especially in rural, peri-urban and urban residential townships.

The group says that informal spaza shops form an integral and vital part of these economies. They are critical contributors to:
  • local food security
  • self-employment, and
  • community cohesion. 
However, spaza shops often fail to reach their full potential due to:
  • a lack of business skills
  • access to funding
  • exploitation, and
  • limited regulatory support. 
Through Spaza Media™, Proactive seeks to transform the township and rural retail market by helping small enterprises, like spaza shops, flourish into bigger and more sustainable businesses. It also aims to do this by increasing the participation of black-owned SMMEs within the spaza branding supply chain.

"Spazas are really at the heart of the community; people see them every day and shop there every day," says Makhetsi Phakoa, head of client service and sales for PMG's Proactive division. "We want to transform media opportunities within these communities, while also bringing them value."

Rethinking spaza branding
Typically, spaza branding is cluttered, with multiple brands competing for space and little opportunity for brand dominance. Media owners have little or no relationship with store owners, who receive at best inconsistent remuneration.

There is typically only limited maintenance of the branding (if any), and it can easily be removed or vandalised, according to the group.

PMG's vision is to transform this, drawing on its media expertise and local spaza network. Instead of a storefront cluttered with multiple brands, Spaza Media™ enters into agreements with owners to create a media space, featuring a single brand and offering price and promotion opportunities.

In developing this offering, Spaza Media™ recruits SMMEs to oversee the creation of branding and manage the media rentals paid to the spaza owner.

These businesses are also tasked with carrying out bi-monthly or monthly visits to ensure that branding remains fresh throughout a campaign.

The spaza owner, therefore, benefits from sustained income and an improved shopfront, which Phakoa argues should drive incremental sales. At the same time, enterprise development is fostered within the spaza value chain.

In keeping with its commitment to sustainable enterprise development, Proactive will aim to help develop spaza owners' business skills by providing access to training, as well as branded workshops and conferences, through the PMG Academy.

Brand benefits
Spaza Media™ says that it offers brands several benefits. It takes them deep into the township economy, where they gain access to an impactful media space.

This offers high visibility of product along the consumer's route to point of purchase, (usually a high traffic zone), along with well-maintained branding and total dominance of the storefront. 

Spaza Media™ adds that it will offer monthly reporting on the implementation of campaigns via an end-to-end business app. This allows for data collection and brands have the opportunity to conduct instore research.

These offerings can further be combined with point-of-sale elements and / or activations through Proactive, says the group.

Proactive says that it has already secured over 1 000 spaza stores in eight provinces. Spaza Media™ adds that it has successfully rolled out multinational brand campaigns across a significant number of these stores.

This offering means that media spending ultimately works to empower sustainable business development and contributes toward economic development points in the company's scorecard.

"It's an opportunity to be where the people are, support sustainable businesses and to make an impact in the lives of the community," concludes Phakoa. 

For more information, visit www.provantage.co.za. You can also follow PMG on Twitter.