Finance and Economic Opportunities
- Whether his Department hosts outreach, information or training sessions for communities as part of its job-creation initiatives; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
whether his Department has plans to host such events for small businesses and/or entrepreneurs in Drakenstein, Mbekweni and Wellington in the current financial year; if so, what are the relevant details?
The SMME Booster Fund provides support to interventions implemented by institutions, organisations and/or municipalities geared towards supporting Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) based in the Western Cape. Potential partner organisations were required to demonstrate the services and support that they provide to their beneficiary SMMEs. The Fund seeks to support and assist the objective to deliver on the outcomes of job creation (and/or retention) and business expansion. The Fund further supports growing and enhancing the sustainability of businesses that includes rural, urban, township-based, youth and women-owned SMMEs.
Labit Consulting (Pty) Ltd is a business incubator that focuses on establishing and growing community-based entrepreneurs. They were assisted during the 2019/20 financial year through the SMME Booster Fund. The assistance provided served to increase their efforts and expand their current offerings by equipping entrepreneurs in communities with tools to grow themselves and their businesses through various topics presented throughout the year. Approximately 90 businesses will be trained and assessed with the top two being selected for incubation.
They work predominantly in the Paarl/Mbekweni region. Since receiving assistance from the SMME Booster Fund, the following entrepreneurship and SMME related activities were carried out:
DATE | VENUE | TOPIC |
20 November 2019 | Paarl: Groenheuwel | Leadership |
20 November 2019 | Paarl | Introduction to Entrepreneurship |
20 November 2019 | Paarl | Marketing |
20 November 2019 | Paarl: Groenheuwel | Business Idea Generation |
4 December 2019 | Mbekweni | Business Idea Generation |
11 December 2019 | Mbekweni | Entrepreneurship Potential |
Planned similar activities, which includes business training workshops in the Wellington area has been planned for April, June and August 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated lockdown has, however, necessitated a delay in the execution of the planned activities. The Department together with Labit Consulting is reviewing the initial project implementation plan. This is, however, dependent on the rate of progress on how the risk adjusted strategy for economic activity is being implemented.
The South African Renewable Energy Incubator (Sarebi), a business incubator and one of the beneficiaries of the SMME Booster Fund supports young people from Atlantis and surrounding areas with business support training and incubation to equip them to start their own businesses. Their recruitment of participants onto the programme included advertisements in the local community newspapers. Ten entrepreneurial young people were identified to become part of the project and it is envisaged that 10 jobs will be created at the completion of the project.
Similarly, the False Bay TVET College: Centre for Rapid Incubation is a beneficiary of the SMME Booster Fund project. They focus on supporting emerging youth owned businesses on the Cape Flats through business support and incubation. Approximately 18 jobs will be created through the incubation of these emerging youth owned businesses. The business support provided serves to increase the efforts and expand the current offerings of these young entrepreneurs with tools to grow themselves and their businesses.
