Partnership promotes small business

THE promotion of entrepreneurship and small businesses remains an important priority for South Africa as a means to grow the economy and ensure wider participation in the mainstream economy.

According to Dumile Cele, CEO of Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry, great effort has been invested by various players in the economy in responding to various aspects of entrepreneurship and small business development. Of key importance is the recognition of the need to invest in BEE SMMEs that can be linked to the supply chain opportunities.

In this regard, Transnet Port Terminal has partnered with the Durban Chamber to offer entrepreneurial support to the selected SMMEs as part of the Enterprise Development (ED) Initiative. Transnet is sponsoring 80 of its SMMEs to be members of the Durban Chamber for a period of three years. By partnering with the Durban Chamber, Transnet is able to leverage the Chamber’s depth of knowledge of developing sustainable SMMEs and wide partner network that are able to assist in knowledge transfer and access to markets.

During the three year period, SMMEs will have full access to all services offered by the Durban Chamber and access to the deep and wide networks that the Durban Chamber has developed over the past 159 years of its existence.

“It's well documented that businesses thrive where they are provided with on-going support. Chambers are well placed to provide the eco-system that nurtures businesses and allow them to grow into sustainable entities. As members of the Chamber, small businesses are brought significantly closer to the Durban business ecosystem and thus have opportunities of networking, they would not otherwise have realised,” said Cele.

Chamber Membership will involve free business consultation on business information, advice and support, business training, workshops and seminars, participation in any of the 16 business forums, participation at various networking sessions such as the Coffee Connections, access to markets through business to business linkages, facilitation of access to finance, access to various business publications and participation on various ED programmes tailored for further development of SMMEs such as group mentorship through the Chamber's business advisors and experienced business partners.

“We are excited at the prospects of this initiative and are making a call to other big businesses to let the Chamber be their preferred Enterprise Development Partner,” she said.