Cape Town International Airport held an all-day retail seminar yesterday, sharing retail business opportunities with emerging and established business owners.

 

Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) played host to more than over 400 attendees at the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel in Woodstock, including business owners, entrepreneurs and members of various organisations such as the Black Management Forum and South African Black Entrepreneurs Forum.

 

Over the years the airport’s retail offering has grown significantly. When the central terminal building opened in 2010 it went from 44 stores to 74 stores, nearly doubling the offering. “It remains key to ensure that our retail offering meets the need of the customer,” said Deidre Davids, Communications Manager at Cape Town International Airport.

 

“We’ve recently concluded research which has largely affirmed that the airport’s retail mix is good. We compete with shopping malls and so our challenge is to demonstrate to brands that there is value in doing business at the airport”.

 

ALL INCLUSIVE APPROACH

She said a number of new retail tenders will be issued for stores in the International departures duty free area as a first phase, with most aimed at small, medium and micro enterprises. Following this, various other opportunities will be put out to tender.

 

“We hosted the information session because we wanted to create awareness regarding these opportunities. More so, our business has adopted a progressive transformation strategy and we are committed toward supporting new business and SMME’s (small medium and micro enterprises).

 

“It is our aim to look at ways in which we can lessen barriers to entry for these businesses”, added Davids. “The airport abides by the strictest procurement guidelines, we are bound by legislation when it comes to tender processes. All tender submissions will be subjected to the procurement processes which include compliance to the legislation in terms of tax clearance with the South African Revenue Services, the company’s capacity and capabilities as well as price and the BBBEE score”, she concluded.

 

ACSA says this briefing session is the first of its kind and it intends to hold an even ‘bigger summit’ where Cape Town Airport can showcase other business opportunities.

 

TOP IMAGE: Cape Town International Airport, featuring a magnificent view of Table Top Mountain in the background (Photo credit: Andres de Wet).