PAGE NEWS CASE STUDY STRAP
The Sustainability Village at the Sandton Convention Centre.
The Case Study Sustainability Village at Africa Travel and Tourism Summit (ATTS) 2021. By Nomaswazi Tinus, Event Greening Forum (EGF) management committee and founder of Africa Mamas Crafts.
W
hat is a Sustainability Village? It’s a platform that provides gifting for conference delegates, corporates and guests to source gifts from a variety of local SMMEs through a gift voucher system at an event. The advantage is that SMME's get to showcase and sell their products to a ready market. Delegates have the option to select exactly which gifts they would like to purchase and take home instead of being given gifts they do not appreciate and which may get left behind at the hotel. This creates a win-win situation that provides ideal gifting for delegates and supports the local economy. Some key considerations to think of when planning a Sustainability Village: • Intention to support the local economy and SMMEs. • Selecting a diverse product offering. • Location and visibility of SMMEs at the venue (must be easily accessible, visible and located in good traffic area). • Frequent communication to delegates on vouchers and where to use them. • An effective voucher management system (allocation, tracking and payment).
Historically, Sustainability Villages have been hosted by South African Tourism (SAT), National Department of Tourism (NDT) and SA National Convention Bureau (SANCB) at both Meetings Africa at Sandton Convention Centre and at Travel Indaba in Durban. This was done in colaboration with the Event Greening Forum (EGF). Over the years, Meetings Africa would host between 12-16 vendors, with Travel Indaba hosting close to 30 SMME's. With events having moved to online and hybrid format, it was important to SAT, NDT and SANCB to continue emphasising the importance of sustainable events and be part of the initiative to build an inclusive economy by not leaving SMME's behind. This years’ Africa Travel Tourism Summit (ATTS) hosted by SAT, NDT and the SANCB saw the EGF come alongside to assist with hosting and managing the vendors at the Sustainability Village. This was a two-day hybrid, multi-venue event hosted at three venues across the African continent. Owing to Covid-19 restrictions and social distancing measures implemented — only five vendors could be hosted per venue, only two of the three venues hosted a physical Sustainability Village, namely; Sandton
14 Business Events Africa November 2021
Convention Centre and Durban ICC. Some of the Durban vendors that participated at this years’ event included: • Mdaki Art & Craft Designers. • Gone Rural Safari Curios. • Isimodeni Jewellery. • Ooh Khamba. • Polka.dot.coco. The Joburg based vendors were: • African Mamas Crafts. • Marabou Essentials. • Nubian Nature. • Nyathi Arts Creations. • Yammie Collectionz. An important aspect of this years’ event was the inclusion of online sales via an online platform as well as a Product Photo Shoot, Radio Exposure on Radio2000 and Ukhozi FM. Fentse Mokale, founder of Marabou Essentials, had this to say about the event: “It was a great experience for me. I loved that I made sales, I networked and made meaningful connections and also received exposure for my business. The radio interview was a big hit and I really appreciated that opportunity a lot. I also enjoyed the fact that I didn’t have to worry about food and parking. What we may improve on next time is to make the voucher system more efficient.” www.businesseventsafrica.com
