The City of Tshwane will on Friday celebrate National Entrepreneurship Month by hosting a business seminar and a pop-up market to improve market access for small businesses.
The event will be hosted in Hammanskraal at Mandela Square to be attended by local entrepreneurs and various stakeholders, including the Small Enterprise Development Agency.
MMC for Economic Development and Spatial Planning, Hannes Coetzee, said: “Entrepreneurship is an essential driver of economic development, job creation and poverty alleviation, particularly in the aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreak, which has left many people penniless.”
He said according to the South Africa economic update edition 13 by the Word Bank, entrepreneurship provides the best prospect for creating employment in South Africa.
“According to the analysis, if South Africa matches the self-employment rates of its peers in upper-middle-income nations, its unemployment rate might be cut in half,” he said.
November has been declared National Entrepreneurship Month and the City in conjunction with its stakeholders will celebrate it by hosting events.
Coetzee said: “Given the importance of entrepreneurship to economic development in Tshwane, the City has expanded its strategic partnership with the Small Enterprise Development Agency in order to speed up the provision of business development and support services to small businesses in Tshwane.
“This will be achieved by establishing business support centres throughout all the regions of Tshwane, which will improve access to and coverage of business development and support services for both current and prospective business owners.”
He added that the City and Start-Up Tribe have teamed up to create the Virtual Entrepreneurship Academy, offering a variety of courses via a virtual platform to Tshwane entrepreneurs and helping them develop their capacity.
“These courses cover topics such as how to start a business, how to start a farming business, how to cut costs and increase profits, demystifying digital tools, and the entrepreneurship life cycle. Since the academy started in April 2023, 212 residents of Tshwane have visited and enrolled in the various courses that it provides,” he said.
Those interested in business training can go to the Tshwane Virtual Entrepreneurship Academy or to enrol for the free online courses on https://www.thestartuptribe.org/pages/tshwane
Pretoria News