Local entrepreneur programme gets province-wide support

The success of the Entrepreneur programme and its adoption by other chambers have boosted the stature of the Ilembe Chamber of Commerce, Tourism and Industry (ICCTI) to become the recognised voice of business on the North Coast.

Speaking at the ICCTI annual general meeting last week, attended by about 50 members, CEO Cobus Oelofse said that in 2014 the chamber had significantly grown its role of becoming a respected and dynamic centre of influence within the Ilembe business community.

During the year the chamber executive was invited to meet Premier Senzo Mchunu and MEC’s at a function organised by the KZN Growth Coalition.

The executive also met the district mayor and officials to express its concern at the impact of the municipality’s high water and sewerage tariffs, stressing the impact on business attraction, retention and investment promotion.

The chamber also addressed concerns about the cost of property development and the possibility of generation of power by the sugar and paper industries.

Helping people do better business was the aim of 25 workshops by the business support centre, which provided free support to 130 small and entrepreneurial businesses throughout the Ilembe district.

The chamber’s highest profile event is the Entrepreneur Programme, in which a shortlist of 20 of the most promising entrepreneurs from 130 entrants (the criteria being that none have a turnover of more than R1 million) received 16 weeks of intense mentoring and training to help them run their businesses better.

The programme has worked so well that chambers of commerce in Durban, Richards Bay, Pietermaritzburg and the Youth Chamber launched similar programmes this year, and four more are expected to sign up this year.

The second largest project last year was running the recruitment programme for the Urban Improvement Project.

The chamber signed up 54% of the affected property owners by number and 61% by value, slightly higher than the required targets.

The UIP is due to be rolled out by later this year.

Announcing a six to eight percent increase in membership fees, Oelofse said the challenge was to keep the chamber viable and solvent.

The 2015 budget shows income of R1.536m and expenses of R1.551m, which will result in a deficit of R14 000.

The new executive committee is: Keith Palmer (Ithala), Renee Hulley (Black Balance), Dayalan Chetty (Tongaat Hulett), Terence Delamoney (ACSA), Grant Pringle (Hotel iZulu), Andy Horton (Laurie C Smith Inc.), Bruce Rencken (Lifestyle Centre), Dominic Collett (Royal Haskoning DHV), Jane Wiltshire (Valtrust) and Trevor Graham (Whirlpool).