Takealot on recruitment drive in Gauteng townships

Takealot is looking to hire hundreds of Gauteng youth. It has begun a recruitment drive across Gauteng townships, as it rolls out its franchisee development programme, in efforts to expand its e-commerce ecosystem across the province.

Launched in March, the franchisee development programme − part of the Takealot Township Economy Initiative − aims to empower township-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs by offering franchise opportunities that unlock the e-commerce ecosystem in the township economy.

Takealot franchises serve as collection and delivery hubs for items ordered from the platform. This enables Takealot Group to get closer to the consumer and promote SME growth in townships.

During an interview, Tshepo Marumule, head of external affairs and public policy at Takealot Group, told ITWeb the programme is looking to on-board 10 franchisees this year – five for the first phase and another five for the second phase.

The regions selected for the franchise network include Soshanguve and Mamelodi in Pretoria, Tembisa and Vosloorus in Ekurhuleni, and Carletonville in Merafong.

“We have received responses from a number of entrepreneur applicants,” says Marumule.

“Each entrepreneur is expected to create jobs of between seven and nine to operate the franchise. We are also expecting that the presence of these franchisees is going to create demand for last-mile courier drivers of roughly 50 drivers per franchisee. So, that’s a total of 250 courier drivers for all five franchisees. We conducted a feasibility study to ensure we don’t select entrepreneurs who are not going to be profitable.”

Once selected, the franchisees will undergo a six-week intensive training programme.

Before the end of the year, Takealot will conduct another feasibility study for the second round of the franchisee programme, he notes.

Tshepo Marumule, head of external affairs and public policy at Takealot group.

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According to the e-tailer, SA’s unemployment rate is a national crisis, with youth in townships being hit hardest. As SA’s biggest e-commerce platform, Takealot says it has a responsibility to use its reach and infrastructure to drive inclusive growth and employment opportunities.

“The franchisees are the logistics hubs where items are separated into individual parcels before being delivered to consumers. Parcels will be moved between our distribution centres and the Takealot hubs. The franchisees will generate an income through the fee we pay them per order.

“What will be paid to the franchisee is exactly the same rate that Takealot pays to franchisees in other parts of the country. We will be engaging with community development organisations, community centres and local stakeholders for recruitment of the young people that will be trained to become last-mile delivery drivers across these townships.”

Last year, Takealot revealed plans to generate 20 000 jobs by 2028 through its Takealot Township Economy Initiative.

The company said it invested R150 million in the initiative, which will be channelled into skills development, on-demand delivery resources, franchising products, restaurants and stock retailing.

“The 20 000 jobs will be the total created through all our township development initiatives. In fact, we are going to be ahead of target because in the three-year commitment we made as part of our partnership with the Gauteng Provincial Government, the target was to have 10 franchisees in the three years. So, by the time we reach three years, we anticipate that we will be ahead of our target.

“For our Driver Development Programme, we had committed to hire 2 000 drivers, so we are also anticipating that we will be ahead of target with this initiative,” Marumule points out.

Discussing plans to take the franchisee programme national, he explains: “Gauteng is our starting point – a testing ground where we can refine and perfect the model. But the vision is much bigger. We want to roll this out across the country, reaching more entrepreneurs, creating more jobs and building stronger local economies.”