The city, through its Economic Development Department, hosted an economic opportunity seminar to equip disabled business owners with access to information, opportunities available in the market and how to access finance yesterday (Thursday).
Ekurhuleni is home to over three million people, of whom over one million are unemployed and approximately 36,9 per cent are youths 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,” explained municipal spokesperson Sam 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 explained.
