Cape Town offers SMEs support in Khayelitsha

Cape Town has called on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs in Khayelitsha township and across the city to take part in the business and employment support programmes it is offering.

The city said it has invested over R1.1m through its employment support partners in some of the city’s poorest areas over the last 18 months.

“As part of our commitment to job creation, skills development, and employment support initiatives, the city has offered assistance to more than 3000 residents, including those residing in Khayelitsha, through its partners over the past 18 months.

Of these, 1478 were registered for further linkages to available labour market opportunities in Atlantis and 1571 were linked to the Job Readiness Training Programme.

These programmes resulted in 771 permanent or temporary job opportunities,” mayoral committee member for economic, environmental and spatial planning Johan van der Merwe said in a statement.

The entrepreneurial projects are targeted at the city’s historically disadvantaged areas in a bid to bring social upliftment, and to include communities in the economy of the city.

“We will continue to spare no effort to create the enabling environment where small businesses can flourish through skills development and empowerment in our drive for increased job creation.”

Van der Merwe said the city was working hard to increase partnerships with informal traders in Khayelitsha and other areas, in recognition of the vital contribution that the sector makes to the city’s economy.

“We are currently developing and implementing informal trading plans, which will include infrastructure development,” he said. According to the city, a total of 147 beneficiaries have been trained in the city’s vendor qualification processes.

“The city’s supply chain management report for the year ending June 2014 shows that more than 86% of our purchase orders were placed with BBBEE-compliant vendors.

“This equates to more than R10.77bn of our total purchase orders issued for this period. We are making great strides as an opportunity city, dedicated to bringing redress through empowerment,” Van der Merwe said.

The city added that it will continue to spare no effort to create an enabling environment where small businesses can flourish through skills development and empowerment in its drive for increased job creation.