Browsing by Author "Nelson, Hantie"

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    An evaluation study of the implementation of the tourism mentorship programme for small tourism businesses in the Western Cape
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015-12) Nelson, Hantie; Lange, Junay; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. School of Public Leadership.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Mentorship is a relatively new way of developing business owners to acquaint themselves with the various disciplines of business to be able to run a successful business. The Tourism Mentorship Programme (TMP), an initiative by the Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDAT) and the South African Tourism Services Association (SATSA) was piloted in 2003 and entailed a six months’ mentoring programme between established and leading tourism businesses and their Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME) counterparts. The programme sought to accelerate the transformation process within the Tourism industry by creating personal and professional relationships between businesses, resulting in skills transfer and the general upliftment of the standard of business practiced by SMME’s. The marked success of the TMP prompted a second launch in 2004. The programme has been implemented annually since then and for the period 2010 to 2014 in partnership with the Tourism Enterprise Partnership (TEP). The study focuses on the achievements, successes and challenges in implementing the Tourism Mentorship Programme (TMP) in the Western Cape. In the light of the literature, it can be concluded that although the different writers are in agreement on the benefits of mentorship for SMME’s, there is a lack of research on the effects of mentoring on SMME’s. Policies and programmes have shown National and Provincial governments’ commitment to stimulate and grow the economy, create jobs and develop SMME’s. However, the literature also indicated that there is a need for tourism development initiatives in South Africa and that mentorship could be a valuable tool to achieve this as training alone does not always lead to the required results. Furthermore the research provided insight into the development of a mentorship programme for SMME’s with specific reference to the implementation of the TMP in the Western Cape. A programme evaluation study with both implementation (process) and outcome evaluation was used to conduct the research. The data sources included semi-structured interviews, survey questionnaires for the mentors and mentees that were part of the TMP as well as a review of DEDAT internal documentation. The aim was to understand the overall implementation of the TMP in order to determine whether the programme has contributed to the transformation, growth and sustainability of the tourism businesses that benefited from the programme. The findings of the study provided insight into the challenges of managing a mentorship programme for tourism SMME’s. The major problem with the partnership between DEDAT and TEP was the timing of the programme. A mentorship programme for tourism SMME’s should not run in the high tourism season as this could negatively impact on the success of the programme. It was also found that a tender process for matching of mentors and mentees is not the most effective method. The findings further showed that the major benefit of a mentorship programme is not job creation as this was not the intended benefit when the programme was initiated. However, with all the other benefits associated with mentorship, job creation could follow should the SMME be able to grow the business. It was recommended that the Tourism Mentorship Programme continues to be implemented annually. However a number of recommendations are provided to improve the implementation of the programme and to contribute towards the growth of tourism SMME’s in South Africa and specifically in the Western Cape.