At the end of 2017 the Chamber entered into a partnership with Trias, a Belgian-funded development organisation. Their programme, Partnerships for Empowered Entrepreneurs Representation in South Africa (Peers), aims to provide skills, support and opportunities to small scale entrepreneurs from the poorest areas of South Africa to launch, sustain and grow their enterprises.

Trias focuses on supporting projects in the categories of:

• Empowerment of the poor, women and youth
• Services to Chamber members
• Chamber capacity building

In the last quarter of 2017, JCCI initiated seven projects under the Trias banner.

Launch of JCCI Businesswomen’s Forum
On 12 December the some 70 women attended the launch of the JCCI Businesswomen’s Forum, which aims to inspire, train, mentor and provide networking opportunities to help women grow their businesses.

The programme showcased a trio of awesome women. The MC for the event was Jacki Luthuli, JCCI Vice President, who is a seasoned business strategist, marketer and social activist. Over the last twenty years she has honed her skills in turnkey event, sponsorship and stakeholder relationship management.

Vuyiswa Mutshekwane, who is CEO of the South African Institute of Black Property Practitioners (SAIBPP),
shared her inspiring story of entrepreneurship in several industry sectors. Puleng Makhoalibe, the Head:
Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship (Henley ICE) at the Henley Business School Africa conducted an interactive session using a variety of activities to stimulate creativity in business.

Training for Black Youth-Owned Businesses
The Trias-funded training course for young entrepreneurs on Financial Management ran from 13 â€" 15 December 2017. The 16 entrepreneurs on the course benefited from practical training in pricing strategies,
cost categories, gross profit and net profit calculation, breakeven calculation and cash flow planning.

JCCI Incubatees
Incubatees from the first tranche of participants in the JCCI Export Incubator were also included in the Trias
projects. Incubatees that have demonstrated initiative and sustainability were invited to attend a seminar on the 2018 political, economic and business trends, as well as development hotspots in Africa in order to give them an overview of the business opportunities in subSaharan Africa.

Incubatees also were provided with the opportunity for one-on-one mentoring by an industry expert to help them investigate the strategic markets for their products. The markets were assessed according to a range
of criteria and the demand for their particular products. Each incubatee identified three/four markets for possible business deals.

In addition, a new tranche of 16 incubatees were identified and underwent assessment to evaluate their export readiness. Those selected then participated in a two-day session on basic business management as the first step in their training. Training on Production Management, Financial Management and Business Model Development will follow in 2018.

Chamber Capacitation
Trias also allocates funds to improving Chamber capacity. This enabled the JCCI International trade staff
to attend a seminar on credit control administration. In addition, there is a focus on strengthening Chamber lobby, which occurs through its regional committees, clusters and commissions comprised of volunteers. A Lobby Capacitation Workshop was organised where a facilitator assisted the chairs of the committees, clusters and commission to share their challenges and discuss ways in which the lobby could be more effective.

Trias 2018
The Chamber has been allocated funds to continue its work with the various developmental projects in 2018. Planning is already underway to put the programme into action.