Supply chain session to boast local businesses

The Department of Social Development held a supply chain session at Munsieville Hall.

The aim of the session was to equip and empower both informal and formal business owners to contribute to the Gauteng economy, and also to give feedback on what the small business owners had requested.

The Department was joined by the South African Revenue Service (SARS), the Gauteng Provincial Treasury, the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) and the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA).

Thembeni Gqadu from Social Development explained that the Department visits different regions every quarter to maintain its relationship with the customers through the supply chain. Those who attended for the first time will receive feedback after three months to see if any developments have occurred.

“We’ve come to the community to give them information that is important for their businesses, and help them to develop further. By bringing in stakeholders like SARS, the NYDA and SEDA, the local business people get the opportunity to learn about various aspects of tax, labour and anything else concerning their businesses,” said Thembeni.

The youth of Munsieville also had a chance to learn how the NYDA functions and how they can get funding for their businesses.

Mthobeli Mdoda, from the NYDA, shared some important facts about the agency.

“The NYDA Grant Programme is designed to provide young entrepreneurs with an opportunity to access both financial and non-financial business development support in order to enable them to establish or grow their businesses. The programme focuses on youth entrepreneurs who are at intentional, promising and new stages of enterprise development,” said Mthobeli.

Young people whose business ideas qualify for the Grant Programme, depending on their individual needs, will also have access to some of NYDA’s non-financial support services, including Mentorship, the Voucher Programme, Market Linkages, the Entrepreneurship Development Programme, and the Youth Co-operative Development Programme.

For more information about the NYDA, visit their website at https://www.nyda.gov.za/grantprogramme or call 0800 52 52 52.