BizAids Print E-mail

BizAIDS is a project to help micro enterprises deal with the impact of HIV/AIDS by means of valuable business skills training.

It is offered in pbizaids_logo.jpgartnership with local business organisations such as chambers of commerce and uses local business trainers. Workshops are conducted for very small businesses in rural and urban areas which help business owners and their families assess their business, health and legal risks and take action to minimise these risks.

During 2006 and 2007, BizAIDS training in South Africa was funded by the United Kingdom's Department of International Development and was rolled out to 1 400 people in Port Elizabeth, Rustenburg, Bronkhorstspruit, Pretoria, Johannesburg, Randfontein and Ekurhuleni.

The training is now funded by the CDC and will provide training for 2 800 people over the next five years. However, SABCOHA'S target is to train 1 500 people every year for the next five years and additional funding is required to meet this target.

Corporates, potential funders or others interested in BizAIDS can telephone Sabcoha in South Africa on +27 (0) 11 880 4821 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

To contact IESC in the United States: Tel (202) 326 0280;  fax (202) 326 0289; IESC website.

BizAIDS website: (This link is currently being reactivated)

For presentations on BizAIDS: ppt Empowering very small businesses. BizAids Launch April 2006

Background to BizAIDS

Pineapples The International Executive Service Corporation, a US non-profit organisation that promotes prosperity and stability through private enterprise development, first piloted BizAIDS in Zambia in 2000, with funding from USAID, as a way of reducing the economic impact of HIV/AIDS on communities in Africa. Four years later the IESC formed a partnership with Sabcoha to help give support to very small businesses in South Africa. BIZAIDS now offers workshops to SMMEs around the country. Since 2003, BizAIDS has reached more than 23 000 people in Zambia and South Africa and research shows that 87 percent of those trained went on to use the knowledge they acquired.

Why target SMMEs?

Although SMMEs employ more people than any other types of business around the world, they are the most under-served and vulnerable component of the private sector. Their strength and viability is crucial for community and national stability and yet, because of their size, they are highly susceptible to the ravages of HIV/AIDS. Because the SMME environment is so small and varied, traditional workplace programmes are inappropriate.

In South Africa, SMMEs contribute over 30 percent of South Africa’s GDP. They provide many important services such as farming, building, baking, carpentry and even essential health care. Around 20 percent of SMMEs have experienced a drop in production and productivity and most urban SMMEs anticipate a negative impact from HIV/AIDS.

Most SMMEs do not know how to tackle HIV/AIDS in the workplace: they show a reluctance to focus on the subject and, most importantly, lack the resources – or believe they lack the resources - to do so.

How the BizAIDS Programme Works

BizAIDS teaches small businesses how to plan for their continuity and reduce the possibility of their business’s failure. When a business fails, the owners, employees and families suffer, income is not easily replaced and starting a new venture is risky and difficult.

BizAIDS consists of a series of workshops that help businesses cope with and plan for the impact of HIV/AIDS on the business, its employees and the families connected to the business. The programme runs for 12 to 20 hours and is conducted in English or local languages – depending on participants’ requirements. The workshops focus on the health of both the business and the people working in it, with training in:

  • basic record keeping
  • asset management
  • planning for the future
  • cross training
  • inheritance issues and legal rights/responsibilities
  • HIV/AIDS information and access to VCT and treatment if needed

The workshops are divided into four sections:

  1. Know your business – to help owners assess the current state of their businesses.
  2. Manage your business –gives help and information on basic business and management skills.
  3. Protect your business – helps owners develop plans to manage risk and protect their businesses in future.
  4. Share the information – gives business owners the opportunity to share the business, health and legal information from the programme with their families and employees.

BizAIDS has been successfully piloted in Gauteng and KwaZulu Natal and is to be rolled out nationwide. It is offered in partnership with local business organisations such as chambers or commerce or trade associations. Local business trainers, trained in using the BizAIDS methodology and materials, and with working knowledge of the issues facing small businesses, implement the programme. Workbooks are given to participants and are designed for both literate and non-literate people. A resource guide on accessing help and information on HIV/AIDS, VCT, legal aid, business help and training is also part of the package.

Some BizAIDS results include:

  1. Increases in business recordkeeping.
  2. Sharing of business and household information.
  3. Increases in personal and business savings.
  4. Sharing of HIV/AIDS information with family and employees.
  5. Greater accessing of VCT services.
  6. Introduction of business survival strategies like cross training and planning for absences.
  7. Acknowledging the need to prepare a will.

Related articles:

Click here to read an article on BizAIDS in action (Gone Rural educates its handicraft women):

Click here to read how illness impacts on small business owners (Business Report):