The HWSETA held a Social Entrepreneurship Training and Mentoring sessions which took place between December 2019 and September 2020 at Kwa Zulu Natal, Durban. The main aim for the training was to capacitate NPOs in the areas of income diversification, mentoring, strategic planning, financial management, fundraising and online presence, the training was conducted face to face over a 5-day workshop.

South Africa has an extensive non-governmental sector which boasts hundreds of thousands of registered non-profit organisations (NPOs) and well over 50 000 unregistered ones, of concern is the staggering rate at which NPOs in SA are shutting down and struggling with sustainability and good governance. Research suggests that good governance is the foundation for all successful NPOs.

The HWSETA recognises the need to support the skills development of NPOs in South Africa, hence The HWSETA invited all suitably qualified Training Providers to submit quotations for the training, and mentoring of NPOs for the Social Entrepreneurship Programme. The aim was to upskill the NPOs with entrepreneurial skills and practises and ensure that their organisations are sustainable and turn them into successful social enterprises.

Although there were disturbances of load shedding during the training, the participation remained high, which indicates that the participants were committed and eager to learn. The training took place in the form of lectures, group discussions, group assignments, individual assignments, and presentations and was conducted in both Zulu and English.

‘’After the social and entrepreneurship training was conducted, we then decided to offer post training support by having mentoring session to all the participants who attended the workshop in order to achieve real and attainable improvement for HWSETA affiliated Non-Profit organisations. This follow up session was also held in Durban in December 2019, said Mlulamisi, WSP Manager at HWSETA.

The HWSETA made an alternative arrangement to continue providing mentoring online because of the National Lockdown, initially the mentoring was supposed to be for 5 months but ended up taking 7 months. Participants appreciated the mentoring assistance and felt that it would have a positive impact on the sustainability of their organisations.

The HWSETA is currently conducting this training in all 9 provinces and learners are issued with attendance certificates after the completion of the training.