Smart hubs give informal traders access to mobile phone market
New Smartcall hub also trains people to become accredited agents
THE NEW Smartcall training centre and distribution hub in the Cape Town CBD will create employment and empower local entrepreneurs. The hub, which is located in the Prasa building in Strand Street, enables informal businesses to generate an income by selling Vodacom starter packs and airtime for all networks, ordering handsets and distributing starter packs.
Since 1998, Smartcall has invested over R500 million in infrastructure to enable informal businesses and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to participate in a market worth R6 billion a month.
Andre Lombard, the new business development manager for Smartcall, said that traditionally Smartcall’s wholesale division consisted of a national dealership network and an SME network serviced by an inhouse sales team.
“Due to geographical challenges, Smartcall has identified under-penetrated areas across the country and is offering opportunities for communities to set up Smartcall distribution hubs which offer onsite training and ongoing support to new Smarcall agents and local businesses and people seeking employment.”
Ernest Roma, the manager of the Cape Town training centre and distribution hub, said: “This is the first hub in the Cape, and the uptake on the hub has far exceeded our expectations.”
Lombard said Smartcall’s hubs in Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gauteng have been a success, and more hubs will be set up in under-serviced areas.
“As individuals and as corporates, we all have a part to play in offering employment opportunities to try to help people to improve the economic situation in their area of the country. By setting up these hubs in under-serviced areas across South Africa, identified by Smartcall and Vodacom’s regional offices, we are enabling more individuals and SMEs to generate a sustainable income, while at the same time the training programme offered at the hub transfers skills and knowledge to them.
“There was also a need for an informal-trader model, which is something Smartcall has developed extensively through its software solutions and services over the past 20 years, and so these hubs will enable us to service the sectors of the market that have not yet been serviced and empowered.”
Lombard said Smartcall has over 100 000 agents around South Africa.
He said the hubs also provide training so that people can become accredited Smart agents. “Each agent undergoes thorough training, and only then are they accredited as an authorised agent to access the Smartcall systems. In addition to receiving training and products at the hubs, Smart agents also get free technological solutions, such as regular reporting on their successful sales and activations, and ongoing support from Smartcall.”
You can contact Smartcall on Facebook at https://www.jfacebook.com/SmartcallVSP2/, or SMS your contact details to 34134, or send agent@smartcall.co.za