vcita Teams Up with Helplink to Promote Small Businesses in South Africa

A software startup best known for its all-in-one business management platform, vcita has entered a strategic partnership with venture builder Helplink Africa. As per the agreement, the firms will focus on fostering entrepreneurship and supporting small enterprises in South Africa in the years to come.

vcita’s flagship product enables small business owners to manage clients, appointments and payments from an easy-to-use mobile application. The company’s technological expertise, coupled with Helplink Africa’s experience of teaching digital skills to African enterprises, will be brought to bear on the local small business economy, with both firms seeking to accelerate the digital revolution.

Business in South Africa has been badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, as evidenced by rising unemployment, widespread closures and a decline in gross domestic product. In addition to helping small enterprises navigate these troubled waters, the partnership aims to help fledgling entrepreneurs maximize technology to increase revenue.

Nokuthula Monaheng, interim CEO of Helplink Africa, is dedicated to the cause of empowering bootstrapped microbusiness entrepreneurship in the region. “In my interim position as the Regional Director for Southern Africa’s division of GetHerIn Digital Foundation, an initiative of the Africa Digital Festival, I got to challenge the imposter syndrome shared by many young African females from a non-techy background who wanted to participate in the digital revolution,” she said.

“That is why the vcita partnership is important. It helps to make technology work even for a young make-up artist who needs to fend for her children but cannot attend events and market her skills. Our partnership gives ambitious gigpreneurs, experienced professionals and indeed any small business the opportunity to grow.”

Recently, Helplink Africa sponsored TEDx University of South Africa’s first live TedX webinar. They utilized vcita’s online management system to create a customized platform for event coaches to manage online training sessions with participants. Through its work with vcita, Helplink Africa wants to help business owners leverage customer engagement tools to provide a richer service to their clients.

“We’re excited about this addition to our global partnership network,” said vcita Vice President of Channel Sales Efrat Greenberg. “Small businesses are a vital engine to the world’s economies, because they make a huge difference with the creation of new jobs. In South Africa, where SMEs contribute around 34% of the GDP, the idea is that founders need to focus on their services, while vcita will provide tools that make administration, management and growth easier.”

“Establishing a digital business presence is critical, especially given the dynamics of the current COVID-19 crisis,” Greenberg continued. “We see vcita’s tools for customer relationship management and communications as being immensely helpful to these types of upstarts, so embedding our platform into Helplink Africa’s programs has a great deal of potential to make a meaningful difference..”

“As we like to call our company The African Growth Company, we aim to do exactly what our name says – help link Africa to the vast possibilities that come with the vcita CRM SaaS platform,” added Nokuthula Monaheng.

“This is a time when technology must work to ensure that the professional services who employ up to 39% of the working population are equipped with the tools necessary to assist in maintaining financial growth, meeting customer experience expectations, and establishing and maintaining easy and lucrative processes.

“This partnership is a win for us, and a win for small businesses throughout South Africa.”



About vcita

vcita helps SMEs and entrepreneurs build and manage a business they are proud of and remain competitive in a digital economy, by delivering a unique combination of education on top of a dedicated business management platform that covers all the day-to-day needs. vcita’s cloud-based solutions help solopreneurs and small teams manage their entire business, turning time-consuming tasks like scheduling, payment collection and marketing campaigns into simple, one-click operations, from one single app. For more information, visit vcita.com/partners or follow us on LinkedIn.

About Helplink Africa

Helplink Africa’s vision is to see Africa grow to be a role player in the global collaboration of nations developing a better future. With experience in ecommerce, growth marketing and events, HLA runs upskilling programs and sponsors numerous learning events and festivals. For more information, visit https://helplinkafrica.business.site or follow us on LinkedIn.