SECTION A $[40$ MARKS$]$

Read the article below and answer ALL the questions that follow.

Shoprite launches new private label, sourcing atchar and sweets from small businesses

SA's largest grocer Shoprite has officially launched a new private label product range, Homegrown, which sources its

products from local small businesses.

The new label, which will be in Shoprite stores from Monday, will offer a wide range of products from chutney to atchar,

biscuits and sweets.

Speaking at the launch on Tuesday night, Shoprite's head buyer for private labels and imports, Renaldo Phillips, said

Homegrown would initially offer $30$ products, but the aim was to "continuously add to the range, growing turnover and

thereby enabling our small businesses to grow in our country".

Shoprite said in a statement that the Homegrown label "creates opportunities for emerging enterprises to thrive in the retail

space" as it offered them "access to market" through the Shoprite brand's $534$ supermarkets.

It said this would allow businesses to "get their products onto shelves, increase turnover, and impact their local community

by creating more jobs". The group said it also followed the recent launch of Shoprite Next Capital, a business division

focused on giving small suppliers access to its consumer market.

One of the small businesses that has been given a shot in the arm by the launch of the new range is Exotic Taste, an atchar

business started by Amina Abrahams in her kitchen in Cape Town in $2006.$ Abrahams began the business out of

desperation when she found herself unemployed and trying to support her two children.

Her business initially supplied friends, family and a small local supermarket but has grown steadily over the years, helped

by a relationship with Shoprite that began $12$ years ago when she supplied the supermarket group with her mango and

vegetable atchar products under her own Exotic Taste brand.

Abrahams told News$24$ the Homegrown deal with Shoprite will give her "national exposure" for her products that she never

had before, adding that since she received the first order the new label two months ago, her staff complement had grown by

$30\%$ to as many as $30.$

She said that over the years Shoprite had helped her business grow steadily and "prepare" for Homegrown. "They have

held my hand throughout the process and taught me a lot. They didn't just throw me in the deep end."

Another business that has seen a significant increase in the number of staff employed by it since agreeing to supply

Homegrown is family$-$owned popcorn business Wonder Snacks, started about six years ago. In a statement that

accompanied the launch, co$-$founder Mubeen Ebrahim said the business had grown its staff by more than a third to $11.$

Khayelitsha Cookies, owned by Adri Williams and Eunice Nyobole, told News$24$ on Tuesday night that its relationship with

Shoprite began in December, and that the group was its biggest retail client. Nyobole said the company, which employs

about $87$ people, had also been supplying hotels and hospitals with its biscuits prior to joining Homegrown.

QUESTION $2(20$ Marks$)$

Using relevant examples, discuss the challenges facing SMMEs in South Africa. Evaluate which specific challenge Shoprite

is addressing through the initiative mentioned in the article and explain how it is tackling this issue.