Tavern owners to learn the tricks of responsible traders
ALEXANDRA - The township is riddled with crimes associated with alcohol and other substance abuses.
Alexandra is plagued with crime associated with alcohol and other substance abuse.
Police crime statistics show that most of the crime in Alex, including serious crimes such as rape, murder and domestic violence, are committed under the influence of alcohol.
The statistics further show that the majority of these crimes are committed from Friday night until Sunday, when people tend to slow down on binge drinking in readiness for the start of the working week.
It is under this backdrop of crime statistics that South African Breweries has undertaken to train Alexandra tavern owners, along with 4 200 of their counterparts countrywide, in the tricks of running a successful yet responsible liquor business.
The brewery has launched a national retail business training programme aimed at improving tavern owners’ business skills and educating them on how to run a profitable and sustainable business in a socially responsible manner.
Known as the Customer Business Development Programme, it seeks to build and enhance tavern owners’ business skills. The brewery also aims to raise awareness of their obligations to trade responsibly, which is a requirement for their operating licence.
This training is an extension of brewery’s Mahlasedi Taverner Development Programme, which ran from 2004 to 2009 with an investment of R54 million. Tavern owners who participated in Mahlasedi reported an increase in business performance, said the brewery’s enterprise development manager Refentse Shinners.
In this latest initiative, tavern owners will undergo a four-day training programme which allows them to gain a better understanding of how to manage their personal finances, basic business skills, as well as how to plan and grow a tavern business.
Taverners will also be given valuable information and skills on how to trade responsibly as a means of minimising the harmful effects of alcohol abuse within their communities.
This is provided by the brewery’s Responsible Trader Programme, which is an holistic approach that engages liquor traders on alcohol abuse and the harm it causes.
Details: Azure Janneker 011 881 8562; Azure.Janneker@za.sabmiller.com
