Effectiveness of SEDA interventions on hospitality enterprises in a selected district

Abstract

This study was conducted in the Ngaka Modiri Molema District (NNMD) municipality of the North-West province in South Africa. It sets out to assess the effectiveness of SEDA's interventions on the growth and performance of Bed and Breakfast (B&B) enterprises in the NMMD. The study adopted an exploratory and descriptive research design and data was collected through the use of interviews with SEDA officials and a questionnaire completed by relevant B&B owners and or managers. The findings were presented in descriptive charts, figures and tables. The findings revealed that some of SEDA's interventions were relevant to B&B enterprises through the various support programmes provided. Success was recorded in the period of 2010 to 2014 through expansion in terms of B&B premises (new rooms) and amenities provided like swimming pool air conditioning and conference facilities. There was an increase in the number of personnel to more than 15 employees by 15%, while 90% of the enterprises were profitable. This was further supported by an increase in occupancy rate from 69% to 75%, average daily rate by 14% and revenue per room available by 23%. A number of challenges affecting SEDA's development support and growth of B&B enterprises were identified, these include limited time for each intervention and insufficient resources available for follow-up by SEDA officials. Measures to improve SEDA support for B&B enterprises were suggested. This study provides evidence that B&B enterprises benefited from SEDA's non-financial support. It is thus suggested that further studies be undertaken to assess SEDA's non-financial support to other sector-specific small, micro and medium enterprises in NNMD. This will help improve the effectiveness of SEDA's non-financial support.