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My last article touched on how we in the Travel and Tourism industry are dealing with security issues, and one of the featured points was the rapid growth of the use of transfers as a means of safer and more reliable transport. I mentioned then that I would like to highlight in a future article how this was empowering small business owners who were setting these transfer businesses up and how the travel and tourism industry is making strides in assisting and developing small businesses and entrepreneurship for many who would like to enter into it.
At BidTravel, we have a program that significantly contributes to this development and growth. However, before I delve into that, let’s examine a few key points that I believe the Tourism Industry (and many others, for that matter) needs to address.To begin with, we need to ensure that we are providing access to the marketplace for small businesses. They cannot become a part of it if they are shut out. So we need to find areas where entrepreneurs can come in, like with the transfers and of course with smaller accommodation establishments.
Secondly, we must ensure that whenever it is in our hands, to try to help people financially to get set up and make a reasonable return on their investment. We can do this by, for example, offering favourable payment terms, supporting people with advice on running a small business and marketing, and utilising the latest technologies to their advantage. We must also help with due diligence and compliance. For example, in the hospitality business there is a huge amount of red tape, like with health and safety regulations, licenses etc. to deal with before you can open your doors.
A program designed for the empowerment of local entrepreneurs
Sometimes when one ‘red stamps’ something, it is an indication of urgency, and a great program that highlights and supports the urgent need to support others is the Red Stamp Club, founded by Rennies Travel in 2012. Post-Covid it was opened up to the rest of the BidTravel stable to increase the support to the smaller travel businesses which had really suffered during COVID-19. So today it is an internal suppliers’ program, and a division of BidTravel, aimed at empowering the growth of EMEs and QSEs within the Travel, Tourism and hospitality industry. Its key focus areas are developing the aforementioned transfer businesses, assisting the planting, development and growth of accommodation establishments – and helping small businesses grow their operations, thereby supporting sustainable development goals and transformation for the less financially empowered.
Red Stamp Club has seen massive success too, far too much to detail in this article, but just as an example, in the last year, it has seen over 5,000 accommodation bookings successfully completed and 8,670 transfer trips (and counting daily) delivered by our partners. As for the Sustainable Development goals, the transformation impact has been phenomenal and we can now boast that 93.33% of our transfer partners are Black-owned EMEs and the Red Stamp Club suppliers hold a combined 122.42% B-BBEE score. It has also supported clients’ B-BBEE transformation scorecards and awarded 3 supplier grants through BidTravel’s ESD program in the last 3 years.
In summary, just a few of the unique support aspects of this great initiative that we provide are a checklist for business readiness, guidance on health and safety standards, support for business expansion and we assist businesses to employ more local talent – a vitally important aspect of the empowerment and growth plan.
Commitment to sustainable development is a collective effort
As someone who is perpetually seeking solutions from challenges, I am particularly gratified to see that, as a result of the need to resolve our security issues, we have managed to find an answer, in the form of transfers, to give growth opportunities to entrepreneurs. Those who were seeking a way into the industry can now not only grow, but be proud to make meaningful change to help address our tourism challenges. Talk about turning lemons into lemonade!
The growth of small businesses and our budding entrepreneurs is the very lifeblood of our economy, as we face massive unemployment due to far too few jobs in the corporate space. It is not only up to the Travel and Tourism industry, but all industries and every individual who has managed to become a successful SMME, to try to support those who are looking for a way in. As our iconic former President Nelson Mandela said, “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice.” This is one act we all need to get in on!
Lidia de Olim
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER