Empowering Small and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) for people living with disabilities is taking centre stage in the City of Ekurhuleni as it rolls up its sleeve to deal with the high level of unemployment and poverty in the region.
Ekurhuleni, through its Economic Development Department, will on Thursday, August 22, host an economic opportunity seminar to equip disabled owners of businesses with access to information, opportunities available in the market and finance.
Ekurhuleni is home to over 3 million people of which over a million are unemployed and approximately 36.9% is youth between the ages of 15 and 34 years.
“If we are going to effectively address the challenge of poverty and unemployment that is confronting us, we need all sectors of the business community in Ekurhuleni to be productive, and for that to happen we must play a catalytic role,” explains municipal spokesperson Samuel Modiba.
The municipality intends to promote and increase networks and linkages between big business and SMMEs, run by people living with disabilities, to leverage on business returns brought by good networking and stakeholder relations.
“We are also going to help these entrepreneurs to adhere to business regulations and compliance standards, but of great importance we seek to get them on board as suppliers to the municipality as well as the provincial government by including them in our database of suppliers,” Modiba explains.
