CoJ hosts SMMEs certificate handover ceremony
CoJ Region C SMMEs honoured after 22 days of hard work.
The City of Johannesburg (CoJ) in collaboration with Sanral, Tjeka Training Matters and the CoJ Department of Economic Development hosted a Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMME) certificates handover in Roodepoort City Hall on May 10.
The City, with the help of other stakeholders, recruited members of the Johannesburg Region C community to educate and help them to become future entrepreneurs and invest their skills in helping the city.
According to the Isiqalo Opportunity Centre manager, Fortunate Khumalo, the centre had to make sure that every recruited member met all requirements presented by entities. This includes an individual being a South African citizen, residing in Region C, and having an existing registered business in the region.
“We had to introduce some changes to our selection process because we acknowledged that our citizens over the age of 35 are always felt out, so we had to open an age recruitment selection to allow any age group to have an opportunity,” Fortunate added.
All qualifying individuals had to attend sessions provided by training centres and write examinations for their outcomes.
Sanral also played a fundamental role in providing funds and facilitators for the duration of the training until the final stage. Despite that, the centre experienced a variety of pitfalls in looking for funding to support these individuals with the necessary skills and equipment for their 22-day training.
“We had to make sure that look for relevant funding for every individual in their respective departments. For example, if one has a business under road construction, the city must contact all road construction companies for funding,” the deputy director of Enterprise Development, Simphiwe Malimela, said.
All stakeholders managed to put a long overdue smile on every individual as they walked down the red carpet while other attendants witnessed their moment of honour.
“We as the SMMEs would love to send appreciation to the city and all other involved parties for the hard work they have done to bring our missions to success. We also urge the city to keep this connection we have and use it to allow SMMEs to bring some level of change,” Region C SMME representative Michael Themba said.
The city promised to keep this relationship with SMMEs close as they also play an important role in the economy and stated that these SMMEs are ‘key drivers of economic growth, innovation and job creation’.
