SPAR South Africa has recently not only been awarded the Rural and Township Development Award at the 2020 ABSA Business Day Supplier Development Awards in South Africa, but also claimed the prize of Overall Winner for its SPAR Rural Hub Programme.

The SPAR Rural Hub Programme is a collaboration between small-scale farmers, communities and  retailers to improve food security, affordability and nutrition for rural communities in South Africa. Cost efficient and environmentally responsible, the hub contributes towards job creation, income generation, infrastructure development, skills transfer and empowerment, while creating a food system that provides affordable, nutritious, fresh produce.

Their first SPAR Rural Hub was established in 2016 with five small-scale farmers producing on 22 hectares of farmland. The rural hub has since expanded to 12 farmers and 122 ha of vegetable production. All participating small-scale farmers receive training covering all aspects of farm management and food safety, provided by an in-house team of qualified agronomists.

When assessing entries for the Rural and Township Development Award, the judges felt that SPAR Rural Hub model was intentionally focused on rural community development and was different to other programmes in that it addresses a systemic issue such as food security. They were further impressed by the transformational aspect of the programme targeted at an impoverished sector of society. The shortening of the supply chain by providing a localised distribution platform was further viewed positively

SPAR South Africa was also awarded the Overall Winner Award for its Rural Hub Programme, recognised for sticking true to its purpose: ‘’to inspire people to do and be more’’. The judges were particularly impressed by SPAR South Africa’s recognition of the transformative potential of ‘Purpose’ and their efforts to position this focus throughout the company to achieve greater integration.

The investment made to the Rural Hub Programme, the willingness to develop suppliers also working with competitors and ensuring small-scale suppliers become GlobalGAP accredited was commended. The evidence presented in support of long-term supplier development success with the outcomes, outputs and results of the Rural Hub programme brought to the fore SPAR South Africa’s commitment to collaborative action through partnership.

A partnership with scientific institutions, nutrition experts, and other local and international organisations was instrumental in SPAR South Africa’s introduction of the SPAR Rural Hub Programme – which included support from the Global Alliance for the Improvement of Nutrition.

Source: SPAR South Africa

Read more about SPAR in South Africa

About SPAR South Africa

SPAR South Africa was established in 1963 and operates four retail formats: SPAR, SPAR Express (operated in conjunction with Shell as a petrol forecourt store), KWIKSPAR (which focuses on convenience in city centres and high footfall locations) and SUPERSPAR (similar to EUROSPAR in offer).

South Africa was the first country outside of Europe to join the SPAR organisation. The SPAR Group Ltd South Africa grants sub-licences to independent retailers to operate stores under one of the four formats, with almost all of the current store portfolio being independently owned.