A string of businesses stretch from the busy and lively Pan Africa Shopping Centre to 20th Avenue. Almost every street is alive with entrepreneurial activity, but most businesses are informal, serving as a means of income due to Alexandra’s persistent unemployment crisis.

Read more: SMMEs in Alexandra empowered to upscale their businesses thanks to Adreach and Proudly South African

On September 11, a spark of possibility lit up the Altrec Sports Complex. The Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMME) Empowerment Summit, hosted by The Transformation Firm (TTF), transformed the hall into a hub of entrepreneurial energy, drawing together government agencies, business support organisations, and township entrepreneurs under one roof to tackle the township’s economic hurdles, and to explore ways in which they can grow their businesses and create jobs.

Reflecting on what the summit seeks to achieve, TTF founder and managing director Matsie Mpshe said, at the end of the event, they hope to see entrepreneurs at all levels having progressed to the next stage of their businesses. “We will have people who were not in business having started their businesses, those that weren’t formal having formalised their businesses, and those that had already formalised businesses, having scaled their businesses.”
She said, that is partly why they had somebody to talk about the entrepreneurial mindset, noting that this lesson gave attendees insights into how they can grow their businesses. “For those that were already in business, we want them to increase their profits, and create more job opportunities.”

Also read: #Your Tax Matters: Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs)

The summit featured key players in the SMME ecosystem, including Region E Business Solutions (REBS), the City of Johannesburg’s Economic Development Department, Ikamvalethu Opportunity Centre, and the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller.

Mpshe said their unified mission was to stimulate township entrepreneurship, adding that the summit also served to reduce dependency on social grants. “Too many people lean on government grants because they don’t see another way. We’re here to change that narrative. We want people to use their hands and minds to build something… Something that lasts.”

Jacky Dikgale, of REBS, echoed the urgency of collaboration. “Our mandate is simple: Unite all SMMEs across Region E. If we can bridge the gap between Alexandra and Sandton, we can unlock real growth and job creation.”

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