South African P&G Program Gets Dynamic Start

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, June 6, 2019 — More than 20 South African women business owners learned how to designed to further develop their capacity as suppliers and, ultimately, help them grow and scale in the latest session of the Business Development Program (BDP) developed in partnership with WEConnect International and Procter & Gamble.  

The second cohort of the program was made up of three different components. The training component was broken down into three virtual training sessions adapted from the highly-rated 10-module capacity-building training program offered in South Africa (2017 and 2019). Previous trainees–a majority of whom were from the P&G  leadership team–praised both content relevance and presenter expertise.  

Program Components:  

• TEN WEBINARS open to women-owned businesses registered with WEConnect International on wide-ranging business topics. The webinars were facilitated by WEConnect International and led by P&G South Africa function heads and subject matter experts.   

• STRUCTURED, VIRTUAL TRAINING MODULES for 26 selected participants led by P&G experts. Each session ended with an hour’s coaching session with the P&G experts running the sessions.  

• VIRTUAL CATEGORY/MARKET SECTOR-BASED COACHING groups led by P&G experts, available to current program participants and past alumni of the BDP program.  

“We are delighted to partner with WEConnect International again in South Africa,” said P&G’s Sub-Saharan Africa Marketing Purchase Leader, Shereen Wardakan. “We at P&G are committed to the support of this program, our launch day was a great success.”

The day also featured many contributions by some of WEConnect International’s own Certified Women’s Business Enterprises (WBEs). The catering for the first day of training was provided by Mo Ngakane, owner of Mo’s Food and Pastries, who also happens to be a participant in the program. Another WBE, Vimala Ariyan, owner of the Southern African Institute of Learning, gave guidance and advice from lessons learned through her 14-year entrepreneurial journey.