In short: The Township Entrepreneurs Alliance (TEA), founded by Bulelani Balabala in 2015, has grown from an early database of 10,000 entrepreneurs to directly impacting more than 80,000 township and rural businesses today, and continues running grassroots workshops, summits and digital skills programmes.
What does TEA actually do for township entrepreneurs?
TEA focuses on empowering township- and rural-based businesses through knowledge sharing, skills development, enterprise development and access to markets, running monthly workshops (historically held every third Saturday) alongside a High School Outreach initiative that has engaged more than 20,000 students. Founder Bulelani Balabala, himself an entrepreneur who founded printing and brand manufacturing company IAF Brands, built TEA specifically around grassroots, on-the-ground engagement rather than top-down policy work.
How much has TEA actually grown since launching?
What started in 2015 with an active database of around 10,000 entrepreneurs across areas like Tembisa, Alexandra, Mamelodi and Vosloorus has scaled significantly: TEA now reports directly impacting more than 80,000 small businesses in township and rural areas. The organisation has also expanded its focus into digital and technical skills, running events like the Kasi Tech Summit specifically to help township entrepreneurs keep pace as AI and technology reshape how businesses start and grow.
What was Balabala’s actual criticism of corporate involvement?
He was pointed about the difference between genuine and superficial corporate participation: “What I am looking forward to is corporate participation from across the board, and not for corporates to participate in such initiatives as a box-ticking exercise, but to sink their teeth into entrepreneurial development.” His related observation, that entrepreneurs often cycle between one Enterprise and Supplier Development programme after another without ever graduating into becoming actual suppliers, remains a structural problem worth checking against any individual programme an entrepreneur is considering.
What does Balabala say entrepreneurs actually need most?
His view cuts against the common assumption that funding is the primary bottleneck: “You find a lot of entrepreneurs complaining about needing funding, but you find that some of them find it difficult to articulate that what they actually need is market share.” His point is that access to buyers and distribution, not just capital, is often the harder problem to solve, and one that TEA’s market-access focus is specifically built to address.
What’s his broader vision for entrepreneurs beyond individual success?
Balabala has pushed entrepreneurs to see socioeconomic development as a core part of building a business, not a side project: “I would love entrepreneurs, themselves, to take social economic development as a key focus and not just launch businesses to make money and build themselves up, but to participate in community development initiatives themselves and also help to create employment.” This framing runs through TEA’s own model, treating entrepreneurship development as inseparable from broader township economic development.
Frequently asked questions
Who can join the Township Entrepreneurs Alliance?
Township- and rural-based entrepreneurs and small business owners, through TEA’s workshops, networking events and digital platforms.
Is TEA still active today?
Yes, and has scaled substantially, now impacting more than 80,000 businesses and running current initiatives like the Kasi Tech Summit on AI and digital skills for township entrepreneurs.
What does Balabala say most entrepreneurs get wrong about their biggest need?
That they focus on funding as the primary bottleneck when market access and distribution are often the harder, more decisive problem to solve.
Originally published in January 2019. Updated September 2026.
