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Small businesses and entrepreneurs learned how to sustain
their enterprises and contribute to the economy at Business Opportunity Day.
PHILANI Buthelezi, an aspirant Soweto entrepreneur, hopes to ply his trade
as a weaver one day, but he first needs to build business acumen, which he
believes could help his small enterprise thrive in a sector that is prone to
volatility.
Helping small enterprises at the Business Opportunity Day
Things like identifying your target market, procuring
funding or a business loan, and managing an effective enterprise that meets
national and international standards are still vague to Buthelezi, who claims he
is not an erudite businessperson.
That is why his "expectations were high" of the Business
Opportunity Day held by the City's small, medium and micro enterprise (SMME)
unit and Absa Bank on Thursday, 15 October at the Jabulani municipal offices.
The initiative was designed to give a basic outline of what
is needed to establish and enhance a small enterprise. It runs on a quarterly
basis and is spearheaded by the commercial bank under the auspices of the City
of Johannesburg.
Absa also runs such initiatives with different municipalities countrywide.
It aims to position small enterprises as robust participants
in the City's economy and provide them with the tools to run sustainable
businesses, including training, development, legal and financial guidance.
Buthelezi, of Orlando West, is the manager of Philani
Clothing, a small business that buys and sells "authentic" couture
garments, accessories, bags and ladies shoes. He runs the business with his
friends, who use the door-to-door model to sell their products.
Step up
He said that the workshops on the day had helped him to explore various means
of carving a niche for himself in what was a volatile economic sector. They had
given him a step into the business world.
"The motivation and education they provided us with included
the basics of managing a successful small enterprise. They told us about the
type of character and attitude that one needed in order to manage an effective business,
how to manage finances and make a profit, and how to acquire funding," he
explained.
"Now that I have all this information, I feel that I will be
able to manage my business effectively because I now know all intricacies
involved."
Business Opportunity Day is held by the City’s small, medium and micro enterprise unit and Absa Bank
Bontle Shole, a manager at Absa's Enterprise Development Centre,
said that through Business Opportunity Day, the bank tried to link small
businesses with big companies that could give them information on growing their
businesses.
"One of the key things that entrepreneurs always complain
about is access to information. So we see it as relevant for us to bring key
stakeholders here so that they can speak to small businesses about new business
opportunities, business ideas, franchise deals and the procurement of finance,"
she said.
Generally, participants - mostly in manufacturing, clothing,
tourism, construction and logistics - were looking for help in expanding their ventures
and the appropriate channels to follow for getting funding and franchise deals.
Empowerment
"One of the things that is critical is how do we empower our people, and we
have chosen entrepreneurship. We are enthusiastic about supporting and guiding small
businesses," Shole said.
Small to medium enterprises - although volatile - are the core
thrust of any robust economy. They help to enhance economic growth and competitiveness,
and create jobs and other business opportunities. Joburg has quite a number of such
ventures, many of which operate in the townships and around the central
business district.
It is believed that developing small enterprises is
significant in that it helps boost local economic growth and participation, and
is critical to promote socio-economic transformation.
One of the many challenges facing entrepreneurs was the lack
of knowledge and access to information, said Mashudu Funzani, a Region D manger
in the department of urban management and development planning, under the City's
programmes and strategy unit.
Through Business Opportunity Day, Funzani said that the City
aimed to distribute information about opportunities available to SMMEs and how
to access them. Opportunities covered were in supplier development programmes,
franchises and business development services.
He said the overall aim was to create a database of Soweto SMMEs,
verify the validity and authenticity of information supplied to the database, conduct
workshops that informed SMMEs about opportunities available to them, and "sensitise
financial institutions to start funding small businesses".
Mentorship
It was hoped that in the long run Business Opportunity Day would help small
enterprises build long-term relationships with financial institutions and provide
mentorship for the successful management of business contracts. The City
encouraged every enterprise to apply for jobs and tenders with it.
Monde Sibaya, an entrepreneur who runs Sibaya Transport
Services, a logistics company, said some points made in the workshops sounded a
little erroneous based on his experience, but he was seeking clarification.
"The programme is very informative but the funding channels
that they are providing us with are very difficult to filter through. Some of
the speakers said we must approach them when we require funding, but doing so
is sometimes much more difficult than how they make it sound," he said.
However, he noted that the programme had given him and his
business some much-needed exposure and a networking platform.
"I have been struggling to get tenders from the government
because they say my business is not BEE complaint, but some of the information
that I got here will help me expand my business and see to it that I comply
with all legally required standards," he said. "It would be great to get long-term
contracts so that my business can be sustainable."
Explaining why he came from Mogale City,
west of Joburg, to the business day, Sibaya said he planned to turn his small
enterprise into a multimillion-rand conglomerate.
Exhibitors included the South African Revenue Services,
D&T Business Holdings, Small Enterprise Development Agency, Raizcorp, Siyaya
Skills Institute, Absa Enterprise Development Centre, Fish & Chips
franchise, Department of Trade and Industry and Johannesburg Property Company, to
mention a few.
More than 200 people turned up for the day.
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