Caesar Molebatsi

TTO is back! To those who may think – and you may be forgiven for thinking so – that TTO had gone into hibernation for some time, please note that TTO is alive and well and integrally involved in market development in South Africa. It is exciting to see the opportunities to make a difference in such a significant and fundamental way ten years after the birth of democracy in our country.

The last few years have been spent essentially focusing on what we do best, and establishing our strategies for the years ahead. We have moved from micro-enterprise development into market development facilitation. From micro-finance into franchising. And from skills training to business linkages. The project pages on this site outline the work that is being done throughout South Africa to demonstrate this subtle, yet significant, change of focus for the organisation.

Having cut our teeth in the world of micro-enterprise development and job creation, we believe we have learnt valuable lessons and gained valuable experience since our inception in 1988.But in 2002, we realised that we needed to re-look at our original strategy and identify a more relevant and holistic strategy for the years ahead.

Without losing sight of our original vision to work with the poorest of the poor to contribute towards poverty alleviation in the country, it took an introduction to an unconventional approach to market development for us to stand still and reassess our way ahead.

We studied the concept, familiarised ourselves with what that would mean in a South African context, and committed ourselves fully to becoming one of the first South African NGOs to adopt the market development approach to enterprise development. This approach already contributes towards eliminating poverty by developing markets for the poor. In addition, we will continue to expand nationally as we aim to have a significant presence in each region over the next five years.

We believe we can make a positive contribution to local economic development in many areas. TTO has targeted certain key markets for its initial focus: retail in the Western Cape, livestock in the Eastern Cape, and agribusiness in Gauteng. These projects have the potential to impact significant numbers of poor people and lend themselves to replication in other regions.

I would like to thank the management and staff of TTO who have demonstrated both dedication and innovation in their work, as we emerge from this transition period.

Our investment partners have played a key role in bringing us to where we are today (please see the list of investors). I would like to thank them for partnering with us in the significant ways in which they do.

Caesar Molebatsi

TTO Chairman