The Entrepreneur for Rural Access (ERAs) in South Africa gathered together with Vinjeru Mlenga, Entrepreneur Coach for Southern Africa, on 29 February 2024 in Polokwane, Limpopo province, South Africa, to discuss strategies and plans for ERAs’ business growth relating to screening of farmer-training videos using the smart projector.
The specific objectives of the meeting were to develop strategies for business growth, introduce the coaching toolbox modules to ERAs, specifically the business plan module, and discuss the ERAs’ challenges and find solutions together.
The meeting offered an opportunity for the ERAs to share their experiences with using the smart projector, discuss about partnerships and business strategies, how to make effective use of the Access Agriculture knowledge resources, data collection and reporting and business development.
Some of the major highlights that emerged from the fruitful discussions were the following:
- All ERAs have potential to grow their businesses. But they need to do proper research and consultations in their communities first to understand who they can work with.
- They can target community cooperatives, clinics, early childhood development centres, and schools, among others.
- They should go through the Access Agriculture videos to find out promising avenues for setting up additional income-generating activities around the videos.
- They should plan to create a network of ERAs, especially for promoting agroecology and organic farming
The business plan session assisted the ERAs to develop their business objectives and plans that will guide their businesses for the next three years.
Access Agriculture resource persons for the ERA meeting were Vinjeru Nyirenda Mlenga, Jane Nalunga and Phil Malone.
