The Minister of Small Business Development Ms Lindiwe Zulu will hand over certificates and equipment to informal traders as part of the department's National Informal Business Upliftment Strategy (NIBUS), 08 April in Diepkloof, Soweto.

One hundred and thirty six Informal traders will receive certificates after they completed specialised training on entrepreneurship through a partnership between the Department of Small Business Development and the Wholesale and Retail SETA.

Nine hundred and ninety two informal (992 Traders) and 45 informal trader organizations have been trained in various business and retail related skills. These traders attended a 10 module training which included amongst others, financial management, merchandising, stock rotation, point of sale, marketing and selling skills, personal hygiene, health and food safety. The informal traders are trained on advertising and promotion; customer care and service; basic financial management; purchasing skills; legal issues i.e. by-laws and compliance, among others. Training was done in partnership with TVET colleges.

1000 informal traders were recruited across all nine provinces through the Informal Traders Upliftment Project (ITUP) as a pilot. ITUP is aimed at increasing the competitiveness, profitability and sustainability of informal businesses through skills development and infrastructure improvements of the informal traders.

The department is determined to support informal traders and develop them to a point where they will be able to compete with established and flourishing businesses.