Small Businesses Invited To Pitch To Cape Union Mart
by Staff Reporter on 12/10/12 at 9:19 am
1 comment
Cape Union Mart, one of South Africa’s most iconic retail brands, is hosting its annual Supplier Open Day on 17 October 2012 in Cape Town.
“We’ve always supported small South African businesses, and we realise just how challenging it can be to get a foot in the door as a supplier for a large company,” says Cape Union Mart Director, Evan Torrance.
The Cape Union Mart Group is based in Cape Town and houses four major local brands: Cape Union Mart, South Africa’s favourite outdoor store and the group’s flagship brand with more than 70 stores; K-Way, an extremely popular technical range of outdoor clothing and gear; Old Khaki, a casual fashion brand available in Cape Union Mart stoers and over 35 stand-alone Old Khaki stores; and Poetry, a lifestyle concept store for women.
Cape Union Mart was a small business too, once
“When Cape Union Mart started out in 1933 as a small business, it was equally tough. Our SupplierOpen Day is just one way in which we hope to create opportunities for entrepreneurial development.”
Although not all small businesses they meet at their Open Days become suppliers to the company,
Torrance adds that it’s encouraging to see the creativity and passion of South African entrepreneurs: “Many of the small businesses we’ve met in the past have gone on to become suppliers to our various brands. And for those who didn’t, it was a good opportunity to experience practicing their pitching and idea-sharing skills in a corporate environment.”
If you have goods or services you would like to offer to Cape Union Mart, send an email to openday@capeunionmart.co.za with a brief overview of your product(s) or service(s).
Ideate is one of South Africa's biggest business blogs, with a team of authors all of whom have had entrepreneurial experience. Ideate is read by entrepreneurs thinking BIG. Follow us on Twitter here. View more articles by Staff Reporter.
Tags: Cape Town, entrepreneurs, Western Cape
Cecilia
Oct 16th, 2012
This is interesting, didn’t know they did that! Do you by any chance know if other groups/stores do the same?