By: Tebogo Mokwena
The Soweto Hotel and Conference Centre went from being a medium-sized business to a small enterprise. This was due to losing business because of load-shedding and the stagnant economy. However, the hotel’s general manager, Dineo Setsetse, believes that by collaborating with other SMMEs, the business will pick up and it will have a positive knock-on effect on reviving Soweto’s rich tourism sector.
Setsetse told Vutivi News said that the 15-year-old hotel, which was formerly owned by Protea Hotels and then by the Holiday Inn franchise before it was sold and rebranded as the Soweto Hotel, was not the only establishment feeling the pinch. Businesses in Kliptown, where the hotel was located, were also not making money. She said the costs of buying diesel to keep the lights on since April last year had exceeded an R1-million. This is due to spending R25,000 per week for a 1000-litre capacity generator.
However, Setsetse believes that by collaborating with other small businesses, the hotel can return to its former glory. It has started collaborating with other small and independent travel agencies, tour operators, small businesses including AV (audio and visual) companies, and events management companies like Ubuntu Kraal, which is also located in Soweto. Setsetse also attended the recent Tourism Indaba hosted in Durban, where she connected with tour operators and travel agencies outside of Gauteng to bring more business to the hotel and to Soweto.
She said the government had also helped. The hotel had received support from the Gauteng government’s township economy recovery efforts, and it also hosted a conference for Gauteng’s Treasury Department this week, which bolstered business. Setsetse, who has been in the hospitality and tourism sector since 1992 and has worked with big brands like Tsogo Sun, Montecasino and the Sandton Convention Centre, believes that in order for small businesses to survive in the sector, relationships and collaboration are key.
“As SMMEs, some of us have a certain sense of entitlement and we are not putting our best foot forward to make sure that we are working together. SMMEs cannot operate in isolation and expect to survive, especially at a time when the buzzword is collaboration,” she said. “Load-shedding has created a sense of desperation in small businesses to survive, and we’re past the point of working alone. “The Soweto tourism sector is vibrant, beautiful and rich with culture, but we just need to collaborate, learn to be patient and (be) understanding with one another, and be humble as small businesses in order for the township economy to thrive.”
