According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Survey, South African statistics show that only 1.9% of entrepreneurs who start a business are still sustainable 3 years later.

At The Hope Factory the percentage of our graduates who started a business in 2005 and are still sustainable 5 years later, is 10%. Thus our success rate on sustainability is 5 times higher than the country average.

This is one of the reasons our programme is rated as one of the most successful and sustainable Enterprise Development Programmes in South Africa.

After 9 years in the social enterprise space, we are confident in saying that the key to a positive future for many in South Africa begins within the individual. True empowerment comes when the current state of heart and mind are changed forever from “I can't” to “I can”.

More than just providing the necessary business, life and technical skills training, we focus on rebuilding self esteem and developing confidence, keeping our learners motivated, mentoring, advising and encouraging them to become the authors of their own success stories.Since 2001, more than 700 unemployed people have directly benefited from The Hope Factory's job and wealth creation efforts.

The Hope Factory provides a holistic 20 week training programme in technical skills, business skills, and life skills. Throughout the Job Creation and Training Programme, The Hope Factory provides mentorship, evaluations, advice and support. One hundred and twenty eight learners are trained annually at our centre in Port Elizabeth.

Once the learners have graduated, they can choose to start their own business, seek formal sector employment, or join The Hope Factory's Job Creation Project. Within this job creation project, graduates manufacture a wide range of beautiful, handmade corporate gifts and conference materials. All profits made from the sales of these products are reinvested in training more potential entrepreneurs. The Hope Factory employs between 50 and 100 graduates in their job creation division annually and has a job placement rate of 80%.

The Hope Factory is one of the most successful entrepreneurial development programmes in South Africa and has won numerous awards including The Argus' Angel of the City Award 2004, The Old Mutual / SABC2 / Sowetan Community Builder of the Year 2005, and The Shell / Gibbs Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2007. In 2009, The Hope Factory was one of three finalists in the SASE Pinnacle Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

By investing in The Hope Factory, you are assured, through our past track record and through consistent management and monitoring by SAICA, that your investment will result in empowered, productive entrepreneurs. The Hope Factory falls under Enterprise Development in the BBBEE scorecard, and as such your investment will enable your company to claim between 15 and 25 Enterprise Development points.