In recognition of this — and as part of its ESG (environmental, social, governance) strategy — retailer Pick n Pay spent R4.3-billion on developing small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) during the past financial year and has embraced local sourcing to the extent that 95% of its own brand food and groceries are produced locally. 

“We understand there are barriers to entering the formal retail sector, so we are playing our part by equipping, enabling and empowering local small and emerging businesses through our Pick n Pay Enterprise and Supplier Development programme to list their products with a large retailer. 

“This is a strong part of our Doing Good is Good Business journey,” says Vaughan Pierce, head of ESG at Pick n Pay.

Chairman Gareth Ackerman told SMME partners that the retailer started out with just three tiny stores in Cape Town in 1967 and now boasts more than 2,000 stores in eight countries.

“Anyone can grow, and grow big. Don’t be afraid to state the obvious. You are living your brand, but you need to tell your potential customer what you have and find a way to stand out from the crowd. Pick n Pay is not giving you the fish or the fishing rod… we are providing the pond for customers to come fish,” he says.

#BoostYourBiz Summit

The retailer currently supports 2,178 SMMEs — up from 2,123 the previous year, and recently recognised its top five SMME suppliers of the year at an annual #BoostYourBiz Summit hosted at its Cape Town head office during Global Entrepreneurship month.

Winners include Rishav Juglall of Rocky Brands, Brett Horwitz of Goodleaf, Ilse Ruthford of Compagniesdrift, Iqbal Aziz of Aztec Farm Produce and Njabulo Sithole of Bakers Creationz.

Together, these emerging businesses employ 149 people. The winners were selected based on their performance over the last year, their commitment and ability to create jobs and their sales growth in the past year.

Rocky Brands

From humble beginnings in a garage in Reservoir Hills, Durban, at the tender age of 22, entrepreneur Rishav Juglall has grown Rocky Brands into a company with a national footprint, supplying stores with some of South Africa’s favourite cleaning products and premium household polishes.

Today, Juglall employs 39 staff members. He joined Pick n Pay’s ESD programme three years ago and his sales in the past year have nearly quadrupled. Pick n Pay currently stocks a range of Rocky Brands surface and appliance cleaners, air fryer parchment paper, and cleaning gloves in more than 130 stores.

While studying towards a commerce degree, Juglall was waiting tables at Fego Cafe to earn a part-time income. However, the entrepreneurial bug bit and he saved to kickstart his business.

“The rest is history. I didn’t set out to sell cleaning supplies; I was just looking for a gap in the market and cleaning products found me,” he says, adding that his biggest lesson to date has been the importance of cash flow. 

“With all the stresses of recent years, such as the Covid pandemic, load shedding woes, the riots and the floods in KZN, the one thing I realised was that you have to plan and pre-empt sudden emergencies. Going back to basics and aggressively driving sales was a large part of what helped my business succeed in recent years,” Juglall notes.

Aztec Farm Produce

Iqbal Aziz began with two staff members and now employs eight people. He started his business 30 years ago and has been supplying Pick n Pay with Asian vegetables for 26 of those.

“Aztec is the biggest contributor in our Indian vegetable category and supplies us with 19 products which are extremely popular in Durban,” explains Mishinga Kombo, head of enterprise and supplier development at Pick n Pay.

“He supplies produce to stores through our distribution centre, but we recently worked very closely with him on a project to deliver produce directly to stores. With his help, we have completely changed the experience we offer customers in this category.

“The project launched in early November 2022, and it is going so well that he has nearly doubled the products’ sales this month. We have also expanded the project from the initial three pilot stores to 10 stores.” 

Bakers Creationz

Njabulo Sithole, owner and founder of Bakers Creationz, started baking part-time from his kitchen at home to create delicious baked foods for family and friends in 2014.

He has grown his team from 13 to 40, boosting job creation in Maphephethe in rural KwaZulu-Natal.

He started supplying Pick n Pay with six products (a range of snowballs) just under 18 months ago, and his sales have grown by more than 400% in the past year. Bakers Creationz products are stocked in 179 stores across Gauteng and KZN, after initially launching in 57 stores in Durban.

Goodleaf

Goodleaf is a premium CBD brand that has been trading with Pick n Pay for two years. The company now employs 32 people and reported nearly 60% growth last year, after starting out nearly four years ago with just three employees.

Vaughn Pierce says the programme played a decisive role in empowering entrepreneurs so that they could support themselves and become meaningful contributors to the economy. 

“Small business plays an integral role in driving a sustainable economy. They are the engine that drives our communities. They create jobs and help drive innovation and competitiveness.”

Earlier this year, competitor Shoprite launched Shoprite Next Capital, a business division dedicated to capacitate and grow commercially viable SMMEs . 

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“With Shoprite Next Capital, our aim is to further enhance the participation of small and emerging suppliers in our business. Our focus will be on their specific needs and how best we can assist them,” explains Maude Modise, general manager for enterprise and supplier development at Shoprite.

“This new division will provide SMMEs with easier entry into Shoprite’s retail market, with direct access to buyers that understand their needs combined with personalised growth plans that will assist suppliers to scale up gradually,” continues Modise.

Shoprite aims to build sustainable relationships to develop, capacitate, sustain and grow small South African businesses, create jobs and increase the localisation of goods.

Shoprite Next Capital will operate as a one-stop shop for SMME partners by providing marketing opportunities, working capital assistance, packaging and labelling support, data sharing, product range and geographic expansion, as well as possible private label partnerships. BM/DM