FINALIZED SCALABRINI REPORT- ASAP Model

FINALIZED SCALABRINI REPORT- ASAP Model

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  1 Scalabrini Small BusinessDevelopment Program ASAP Survey Analysis Introduction and Purpose: Reviewing the Small Business Development course curriculum, grant application process, mentorship strategies, and digital literacy course has given this research a well-rounded lens into the professional ambitions and challenges of foreign nationals in South Africa seeking to promote their employability. Drawing from these experiences and observations, a reflective survey was created to capture data on the social, entrepreneurial, and environmental context of small business development entrepreneurs in this program. The aim of this project is to allow the responses from these surveys to inform program coordinators about the available resources, capital, infrastructure, and skills within client communities to assist with coordinating curriculums and skills development strategies. For future research purposes, its model can be easily replicated to allow Scalabrini’s business development program to embed this personalized and targeted monitoring and evaluation strategy into future client cohort processes. Types of Businesses SBD Clients Are Involved In Due to the barriers to employment for foreign workers in South Africa, many have resorted to establishing their own businesses. The three main sectors that clients at Scalabrini’s SBD program are involved in include: fashion, food, and services. Within the fashion and clothing sector, clients are participating in sewing, design, leather crafts, and fashion trading. In the food sector, clients are involved in baking, cooking, and event catering. And within the services sector, clients are practicing in plumbing, printing, internet serves, business management, and therapeutic massage healing. Client Demographics Of the total 22 respondents who completed the SBD’s version of ASAP’s skills and assets survey, about 50% have a graduate school education, 75 % are female, 90% are originally from the DRC, and all clients range between the ages of 29-53. Since women make up majority of small business entrepreneurs in this context, SBD Group Business Types Fasion Food Services
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  2 programs should alsoconsider how to address business development challenges under a gender- based lens. Furthermore, many have had access to higher-levels of education and are academically qualified, indicating advanced cognitive processing skills and critical thinking. While some of those qualifications may be difficult to transfer into South African standards, to avoid losing those skills, one could foster them into their business development strategy but ways of doing this need to be further explored. Client Business Visions The success of these businesses largely depends on facilitating community and relational networks and partnerships to support business activities. Clients were asked about their visions for their business and the steps they believe are necessary to achieve those visions. The data found a lot of overlap between client visions and processes to accomplish them. One third of all respondents incorporated assisting others with mentorship and skills training into their visions. Approximately the same number of clients reported that they require such mentorship and training to achieve their visions. For example, a client reported that their vision is to provide training to other woman in the future and another client said that they need more mentorship and training from other professionals. This suggests that this group of participants are clients that are both in need of training and are willing to train others, which is a major strength in the program. A simple survey process could identify how clients can match each other’s needs and be paired together to assist one another in their entrepreneurship which may also ease the capacity of the program itself. The SBD program could facilitate mentorship and training opportunities by teaching clients how to teach others within their workshops. This can allow the skills distributed by the program to be extended to client networks and communities that are beyond its reach. Personal and Community Outlook The survey asked clients to rate a series of statements relevant to categories of one’s economic, social, and environmental values. Rankings of those categories as a whole found that clients considered a healthy environment as the most important element, followed by a stable economy, and finally a supporting social environment. Responses to statements related to the environment ranked “businesses respect for the environment” as the most important statement. However, they were not as concerned about “businesses building on natural/undeveloped land”. This suggests 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Most Important Somewhat Important Least Important Relative Importance of Community Environment, Economy, and Society A Healthy Environment A Stable Economy A Supporting Social Community
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  3 opportunities for newbusinesses to set up and become accessible to those communities that have undeveloped land available. For the economic statements, it was most important that “businesses generate additional jobs within the community” and “return profits to that community”. And finally for the social statements, participants also ranked “new jobs provide training programs” as the most important. These further stresses the point that trainings and mentorship among community members may assist in facilitating long term employment opportunities that feed back into community development initiatives. The survey also attempted to capture how clients feel about their ability to influence their personal and community’s future. This helps us understand how clients cope with shocks outside of their control and the level of free will they perceive to have when dealing with those shocks. An example that was used to explain this statement was “if the government in any way restricted foreign nationals from working in South Africa, would you be able to rely on your own skills and resources to overcome those barriers?”. While most clients believe that their personal future is equally dictated by personal and outside forces, more believe that most of the influence comes from themselves rather than external parties (ie; the government). This is powerful and extremely valuable for this group of participants because it suggests a strong capability to adapt to external challenges. The data also captured self-reported probability clients believe they have when it comes to achieving their stated personal financial goals. Majority of participants anticipated a moderately high (61%-80%) chance of achieving their stated goals which is generally aligned with the data surrounding their free will. This level of self- awareness is critical to the success of small business entrepreneurs that allows entrepreneurs to identify the personal skills necessary to follow through on their visions. Finally, the survey was also able to capture client expectations about their community’s financial situation. It appears that clients generally have positive expectations for their community’s future. However, more research is needed to better understand broader community values and General Sense of Free Will I have little influence, my personal future is mostly controlled by outside forces. My personal future is equally controlled by myself and outside forces. I have a lot of influence on my personal future, outside forces play only a small role. 0 2 4 6 8 10 Low (6%-20%) Moderately Low (21%-40%) Moderate (41%-60%) Moderately High (61%-80%) High (81%-95%) Very High (96%-100%) Probability of Achieving Personal Goals
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  4 needs. It maybe useful to connect with community leaders who can define some of their specific development objectives to allow for collaborative efforts from Scalabrini to fulfill them. Nevertheless, the available survey data is still able to show the general contextual values surrounding broader social, economic, and environmental categories which may otherwise appear to be counterintuitive to some. For example, since environmental quality ranked as the most important category over others, curating employment opportunities or trainings that focus on protection and preservation of natural resources may have greater personal and communal value than other types of training. Something like this would constitute the basic pillars of sustainable economic development because it provides employment, preserves the environment, and promotes the health of communities in the area. Similar examples and ideas can come from understanding the local knowledge from community leaders who may inform coordinators on how such trainings can align with community priorities in a way that takes such environmental or sociocultural values into consideration. Community Demographics A meta-analysis on client feedback about the quality of resources within relevant communities is shown in the adjacent figure. The data shows that there is access to quality retail shopping opportunities which could be a useful source of distribution for client products. It also identified that access to social and cultural opportunities within communities are more limited, suggesting a lack of community building and networking initiatives. Clients reported that they rarely have access to a small business or trade association in their areas that could allow for firms to collaborate with one another. The program can cultivate the skills and opportunities necessary for creating an environment that small business entrepreneurs can thrive in by understanding community infrastructural strengths 0 2 4 6 8 10 Air and water quality Outdoor recreation opportunities Social and cultural opportunities… Retail shopping opportunities Education systems (primary-high school) Local college or university Health care services (clinics/hospitals) Public safety services (e.g. police, fire) Quality Ranking From 0 To 10 (0 =Worst, 10= Best) Average Quality of Community Infrastructure 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 A Bit Worse About the same Slightly Improved Much Improved Expectations About Community Financial Situation
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  5 and weaknesses. Workshopson how to approach retailers for distribution opportunities, the logistics behind that, and how to interact with other entrepreneurs in a small business association could be a useful tool. Given that majority of interactions and agreements among this group of participants flows through community networks and word of mouth, a common space that facilitates these interactions can be very useful. This concept became clear during the survey data collection periods where clients positively recognized one another and assisted each other in interpreting and completing questions. All observations and interactions throughout the process made it apparent that there is a general willingness among clients to assist each other with their personal and professional growth. Thus, establishing a community-level association that allows SBD clients and other entrepreneurs to continue to collaborate after the duration of their courses at Scalabrini can help participants maintain their relationships and networks for the purpose of expanding their networks and businesses. It would help establish a support system for clients to share and express their needs and opinions among others who truly understand their context and challenges. This can be done by reserving community spaces for association meetings and events that can be run by SBD clients who have advanced in the course and have the capacity to share their learnings and ideas with other small business entrepreneurs. Skills Assessment & Gaps In this section, clients reported on the skills they have and need to develop in order to meet their personal and business goals. Scalabrini’s SBD and broader employment access programs do already facilitate trainings in most of these areas, but they may not all directly correlate to small business entrepreneurial needs. For example, trade management is a skill that majority of clients reported needing to develop which has not been addressed in programs yet. Trade management refers to the skill of understanding how to import and export products from other regions and how to price them accordingly. This is a common task among small business entrepreneurs and without the proper training on facilitating the trading process, clients risk losing out on customers and profits. Especially when there are funds coming in and out from multiple sources, in various currencies, for different products and demands, tracking those expenses in an organized way is critical. This already ties into the SBD program’s curriculum which covers professional communication and organization skills etc. and trade management can be easily embedded as a component of the SBD modules.
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  6 Furthermore, Scalabrini’s generalDigital Literacy course only covers smartphone and Google Suites functions. While such topics are certainly useful for clients seeking administrative positions, it might not necessarily be applicable to all small business demands other than assisting with planning. Instead, small business entrepreneurs can benefit more from digital literacy education in relation to their business’ digital marketing processes. For example, teaching basic graphic design through Canva allows one to create their own professional logos, business cards, and flyers can drastically improve the legitimacy and perceived credibility of their businesses. Furthermore, showing clients how to register their businesses on google maps to be visible to potential customers, using LinkedIn, creating a website, developing social media posting strategies, and understanding how to write captions and appeal to audiences online via Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp business are critical skills that are not currently covered in the broader Digital Literacy courses. The SBD program has an opportunity to expand their digital content in its curriculum and doing so could open up a wide range of opportunities for small business entrepreneurs. Conclusion COVID-19 has demonstrated the challenges of maintaining and running a small business during a pandemic. As the pandemic environment becomes the norm, many businesses are shifting to an online model and it is crucial that small businesses keep up with this transition. It is understood that SBD clients are generally older, lacking basic digital literacy skills, and may fine it more to transition into an online model without access to a computer or internet. However, integrating a business specific digital literacy workshop into the program can allow clients to create long-term business materials such as logos, business cards, flyers, google maps locations, websites etc. These workshops only need to occur over one period that can allow small businesses to establish a basic, permanent online presence. The mentioned digital properties require little maintenance but are continuously accessible to potential customers and clients will gain use from it whether or not they have access to a computer or internet after the workshops. Social media trainings are a more long-term skill that can be developed on the way throughout the course and can be more easily integrated since it operates from a smartphone which most people already have access to. The survey process revealed itself to be a useful critical thinking task that helped clients reflect on the resources available to them in their communities to expand their business. More so, it offers an opportunity for clients to teach coordinators and researchers about their environments which is the valuable first-hand knowledge necessary to successfully plan any kind of development intervention. In this way, clients can tell us what it is they actually need instead of assuming what a development trajectory should look like for them. I appreciate Scalabrini for giving me this opportunity to understand the important work that it does and hope that through extensions of this research we can continue to support this incredible, ambitious group of people.