THE Wine Industry Development Association (WIDA), which was recently launched in Paarl, seeks to play a key role in creating a non-racial industry by leading co-ordinated efforts to address development issues in the wine industry.
WIDA will deploy a range of support mechanisms and tactics, including bursaries for wine-related studies, workshops, and providing information on housing right.
The launch also featured the wines of up-and-coming winemakers, three of whom are woman-owned: Kholisa Wines, Seven Sisters, Libby’s Pride Wines, M’hudi and Yamme.
Denver Williams, Director of WIDA, says since their initial inception in 2006, their unit has taken time to develop capacity, strategy and an operational framework.
This is to ensure, he says, that its work is successfully focused on four pillars: social development by addressing the needs of vulnerable communities, people development through skills development and training, economic support with broad-based empowerment, and industrial relations to improve the working conditions of farm workers.
Hosting the launch of WIDA offered the Santam Agriculture business unit the opportunity to associate their business with the efforts at development and transformation that are necessary to continue the leadership of the industry on the global stage says Dr Tobias Doyer, head of Santam Agriculture.
