Story

By Ronnie Mokoena Mokoena
Sanlam
I had the privilege to train disabled entrepreneurs from SEDA who are experiencing a lot of challenges in their businesses. And they raised multiple issues surrounding their businesses including fraud and scams, personal debts and procurement challenges. One of the participants Mr Mntambo who is blind shared his experience as follows, he once got a call from SASSA to supply 50000 Cards for Grant beneficiaries and the deadline was in week's time. He organised a friend to assist in finding the service providers who supply cards and they found one and the service providers were requesting an upfront payment and as he was about to make that payment,he contacted someone from the branch to verify the information regarding the call. But the consultant told him that SASSA has its own service providers who are appointed nationally to supply the cards,he then contacted the number of the person who requested the cards and it was closed for several days. He also indicated that as a blind entrepreneur he faces challenges when trying to get credit as other credit providers treat him with disrespect due to his condition and some have taking clothing on his account and denied the allegation when he lays charges against them. Other lady from the different group shared her experience when it comes to online purchases,she shared that she orders things online and sell them to her customers who bought clothing from her. But she once experienced a cyber scam people were trying to deduct money from account as if she ordered something and she approached the bank she was advised not to orders using her personal account but rather use virtual account as most scammers will try to deduct money from her account and virtual account ccv number charges every hour so it's not easy for scammers to track. I had a wonderful experience and exciting sessions with full participation.