Tubatse’s business chamber gets underway

BURGERSFORT – Local business owners held a pilot meeting for the founding of a business chamber in the Greater Tubatse Municipality (GTM) at Laerskool Burgersfort last Tuesday.

The special guest for the day was business guru and member of the Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut (AHI), Mr Corinus du Toit. He guided the local entrepreneurs and advised them on the importance of having a business chamber in their society.

He also gave a brief lecture on the AHI organisation’s background.

“In having a business chamber, local business development and infrastructure in this area will improve.

“It will also help in the development of young businesses in this area. “If we have our own business chamber in Tubatse, it will serve as the mouthpiece of entrepreneurs, and we will also be able to network and outline our challenges,” Du Toit told the crowd.

The AHI has been instrumental in engaging local business chambers, including Thaba Chwean business chambers in Sabie, Graskop and Lydenburg and have had several information exchange meetings in the recent past.

After Du Toit’s presentation, the guest decided to elect a pilot committee which would ensure the smooth operating of the chamber and included 12 members of local business.

The first annual meeting for the chamber will be held early next year.

Business people interested in joining the chamber can contact Mr Carl Lourens who is the member of the committee and also owns Magaba Vulstasie in Burgersfort.

In his August meeting with the Graskop business chamber, Du Toit gave the members some useful advice that they should keep in mind when engaging with their respective local governments.

After a recent meeting between AHI and the South African Local Government Association (Salga), one of the major complaints from business chambers, namely a lack of free access to local municipalities, was an important issue which was discussed.

“At national level good interaction exists between AHI and relevant government departments, as proved by the recent memorandum of understanding signed between AHI, Salga and cooperative governance and traditional affairs.

“However, this can have no beneficial effect where it matters most – at ground level – if municipalities keep on blocking approaches made by business chambers,” said Du Toit.

He explained that Salga undertook to work on this problem, but needed more facts to find out from where the issue actually derived.

The AHI invited local business chambers to submit comments on the problem, which was then submitted to Salga for investigation.