On February 15 the Ehlanzeni Centre for Entrepreneurship Rapid Incubator (CFERI) embarked on a business awareness roadshow across the region. It ended on February 22.

This follows after the CFERI recognised that many young entrepreneurs lack marketing skills and the necessary information required to create a successful business. The roadshow was held in Mshadza, KaMhlushwa, KaNyamazane and surrounding townships to reach up-andcoming entrepreneurs.

According to the centre manager, Donald Pako, many young people have great business ideas, but do not know where to start when they want to materialise the idea. “We have numerous brilliant ideas from our youth, but they struggle to launch and market their ideas into a real tangible thing. Our centre is available to offer mentorship to these minds so that together we can grow our economy and eventually create job opportunities. Financial assistance is not our primary focus, but we do offer it sometimes, and also link the upcoming businesses with the potential sponsors,” he said.

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CFERI is a centre that creates awareness about small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs) and offers basic training about entrepreneurship and business management. Boipelo Motshegoa, a street vendor, said the roadshow helped her with the strategies she lacked to grow her business. “We as small businesses hardly get support from the big organisations.

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We lack the skills and knowledge needed to make a business successful, but because we are only trying to survive, we endure the challenges we come across. I am grateful for this roadshow as it equipped me with ideas to grow my business.”