NEWS RELEASE                                                                                                   11 July 2001

 SMALL BUSINESS IS BIG BUSINESS FOR CAPE TOWN 

Not many people realise the enormous contribution that small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) are actually making towards Cape Town’s economic prosperity  

A recent study sponsored by the City of Cape Town revealed that an estimated 60 000 SMMEs constitute at least 50% of all the business in this city and produce at least 95% of all the business activity undertaken in Cape Town at present. 

Cape Town contributes over 11% of South Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), so this means that the small business sector in the Mother City is also a major player in the national economy. 

This is one of the major reasons why the City of Cape Town will be hosting the first ever Small Business Week at the Peninsula Technikon from 17-20 July this year. It is intended that this will become an annual event. 

Titled ‘Making Small Business Big Business’, the accent of the week’s intense schedule of exhibitions, workshops and certificated basic business training modules is to provide an interactive learning opportunity for people already operating in or interested in joining this increasingly important sector.-

With unemployment at record levels, that’s welcome news for the man in the street, and certainly good news for the economic empowerment of communities traditionally on the fringes of the mainstream economy. 

The man behind this initiative is the city’s Executive Committee Member for Economic Development, Tourism and Property Management, Councillor Kent Morkel, who has long championed the cause for the building of a strong spirit of entrepreneurship. 

“We need to do all we can to support and encourage growth in the small business sector,” said Councillor Morkel. “By providing the right training opportunities and by opening communication doors between entrepreneurs and the investment community, we will stimulate a new wave of small business activity and bring about substantial job opportunities, at the very least.” 

One of the objectives of Small Business Week is to showcase the significant and well-established local government, NGO, private sector and institutional network resources available to assist new entrepreneurs.

  “This means that anyone brave enough to start his or her own small business now has access to basic business training, possible business finance and even joint venture or franchising possibilities as well as public procurement opportunities.  

“The whole accent of Small Business Week is opportunity, opportunity, opportunity,” said Councillor Morkel. 

For only R30 a day, people interested in attending will have full access to a wide range of basic business training courses – such as the writing of business plans, record keeping and costing of products and services, marketing and risk management, to market research and occupational health and safety – as well as many exhibits, workshops and open discussions with experts on various business-related topics. 

Small Business Week is being held in the main sports hall at the Peninsula Technikon between 17 July and 20 July and has been designed to allow public input into the future economic transformation of the City of Cape Town. 

Clem Sunter has endorsed Small Business Week saying, “For Cape Town to retain its status as a world class city, it is going to have to improve the job prospects in the surrounding communities.  This can only be done through small business development and therefore Small Business Week is crucial in creating a positive future for the Western Cape.”

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