Vodacom has introduced a series of business acceleration workshops targeting all sizes of enterprises, to help them perform better in the digital age.
The interactive sessions, called the Fast Forward Series, are aimed at driving growth and change within the South African business sector.
The mobile operator says the series will target small, medium and large enterprises, public and global organisations, and offer industry trend updates and workshops, as well as innovation sprints, developer series and hackathons.
Fatima Hassim, Vodacom business managing executive, says: “Our objective here is to create an environment that will address key business challenges – focusing on helping them to develop strategies to survive and thrive in today’s digital economy.
“We want to help them understand and prepare for the fourth industrial revolution by adopting the technology that is being made available to optimise their business processes and efforts.”
Vodacom says this series aims to create a collaborative environment with its partners, to develop tailored plans to help facilitate skills development and information transfer to promote business growth and strategic decision-making.
The first part of the series is in collaboration with Samsung and an ecosystem of partners, including business mentor for small businesses Business Doctors, innovation think tank WeAreMonsters, Google and Facebook.
Vodacom says this is the first time Google is collaborating with a telco to provide skills to small business owners in South Africa.
This phase will see up to 480 businesses given free access to content and receive hands-on training from experts to grow their digital skills.
Hassim says: “We have partnered with digital pioneers, some of the best in the industry, to pave the way for South African businesses looking to undergo a digital transition. We look forward to a successful initial phase and are certain there will be room to grow in the future.
“Our ambition is to connect and grow South African businesses so they are able to meaningfully take part in the fourth industrial revolution,” she adds.
Commenting on the series, Steve Sutton, CEO of Business Doctors, says: “As a support network for small businesses, we’re dedicated to helping SMEs and larger businesses successfully integrate into the digital economy and grow.”
Justin Hume, director of product and marketing at Samsung Mobile South Africa, adds: “We are looking forward to being a part of this programme and working with Vodacom and the selected partners to drive this. There are some exciting surprises throughout the series that will be announced in due course.
“It is this type of progressive leadership that will make the biggest contributions to the change that we need to see within the SA landscape.”
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