The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber has signed a historic three-year deal with the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) to extend the Enterprise Development Programme for the benefit of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs).
Chamber chief executive Denise van Huyssteen says the Chamber is extremely proud of its partnership with the ECDC, which has seen some of the businesses who previously participated in the programme become huge successes within their areas of operation.
“The cultivation of SMMEs is regarded as a vehicle for economic growth as this sector plays a significant role in employment creation and economic growth. Through this programme, the businesses are provided with an opportunity to address some of the challenges they are faced with which largely contribute to their stagnation. Some of these factors relate to the lack of entrepreneurial skills to sustain the business, lack of access to appropriate technology, limited or lack of access to resources, limited access to local and international markets, unsteady institutional capacity, lack of management skills and training, and most importantly, finance,” says Van Huyssteen.
ECDC Regional Manager Vuyokazi Zozi says the entity is there to create a conducive environment for SMMEs to grow and be sustainable.
“We have a win-win partnership with the Chamber as our programme objectives are met. SMMEs who enrol in the Enterprise Development Programme get capacitated and further be exposed to an environment where they network with businesses in the industry and are able to forge strategic partnerships. We have past seen businesses growing, creating jobs and generating more income through this programme,” says Zozi.
The programme empowers SMMEs to run financially sustainable enterprises, unlocking socio-economic development through structured multi-level training, mentoring and linkage support.
The programme, now in its ninth phase, was launched in 2014 to contribute towards the development of sustainable and competitive enterprises. To date, it has benefitted over 218 MSMEs across the Eastern Cape. This is done through various capacity building initiatives such as training, mentorship, facilitation of access to markets and preparing entrepreneurs to be able to access finance.
Through this new partnership, the programme will further provide support to over 162 businesses over a 3-year period, with a key focus on approximately 33 businesses each year, covering the following areas: provision of business intelligence support to SMMEs to ensure a sound and credible business decision-making process; preparing SMMEs to be compliant with and meet funding requirements; facilitation of funding opportunities; financial education and improvement; refinement of corporate identity, brand management, and advertising tools; facilitation of access to markets; Business to Business linkages; provision of support to the enterprise for digital marketing; facilitation of networking opportunities; mentorship; promote innovation and also promote sustainable development principles and methods.
The revised programme also seeks to expand on the gains achieved through phase 1 to 8 and this will be achieved through further providing practical support to the MSMEs that have been provided with soft skills, ensuring they access funding, access market and tailor-made strategies to sustain and grow their enterprises.