In 2021, The Hope Factory secured its first, CHIETA sponsored Small Business Support Programme empowering 30 SMMEs in the Chemical sector in Nelson Mandela Bay and Buffalo City Municipality. The programme involved the transfer (development) of business knowledge and financial skills, through accredited training and industry coaching. At the end of the programme, 6 SMMEs received house-hold Chemical Manufacturing training by Chemin, 11 additional businesses post-programme are running an active budget.
20 of those SMMEs, continued with a year 2 that consisted of business and finance mentoring and industry coaching. One participant’s dishwashing liquid got SABS approved after testing was done and Back Office and Accounting Support was provided to the participants to become fully compliant. Since then, The Hope Factory have implemented 9 more CHIETA funded programmes.