THE Harlequins market on The Bluff has taken the initiative to grow and develop the local economy with an innovative entrepreneurship programme. As a non-profit company, there is no personal financial gain for the management of the market. The only benefit is the community upliftment.

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Gail Coetzee, chairperson of the market, said the aim of the initiative is trying to help grow the economy on The Bluff.

“We’re starting an entrepreneur programme where we will give entrepreneurs a free space at the market to be able to run their unique business and give it the exposure it needs,” she said.

The programme intends to accommodate up to 10 entrepreneurs at any given time who will be afforded free stalls to sell their products or render their services. Besides the market, the idea is also to link participants to the resources provided by the Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA). The resources include free management and marketing courses; when completed, this can translate into financing their business ventures.

Among the first participants joining this programme is Lungile Mvulane with his modernised and improved recycling initiative. Mvulane said his method follows a closed-loop style where the community involved benefits from their own contributions.

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“It is essentially like a waste exchange. I teach people how to clean and sort their waste at home, and then every week when they come to the market, they drop all their clean and sorted waste, thereafter they become a client and have a profile and then they can earn money for their clean and sorted waste,” he said.

Mvulane said he is excited to be one of the first people involved in the programme. “I am very excited, because it is a benefit for me, especially the exposure from the community. What I want to really do requires a lot of the community’s help and it requires them buying into the sustainability of it by the community,” he said.

The entrepreneurship programme represents a major move by the Harlequins Market to reduce unemployment rates and inspire entrepreneurship on The Bluff.

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