South Africa’s townships and rural areas are teeming with business opportunities that have attracted people from as far as Asia and East Africa. It is crucial that the South African businesspeople fully explore these opportunities in order to ensure that the rand circulates internally to boost the local economy and create employment opportunities for communities in the rural and township areas.
This was said by the Member of the Mayoral Committee for Local Economic Development in the Moqhaka Local Municipality, Councillor Lehlohonolo Ramajoe. He was addressing entrepreneurs who attended the Spaza Shops Support Fund workshop in Kroonstad, Free State, today.
The workshop was organised by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic), in partnership with the Department of Small Business Development. It was part of the second phase of the nation-wide campaign that the two departments are rolling out in order to create awareness about the fund amongst spaza shops owners.
The main objective of the fund is to increase the participation of South African-owned spaza shops in the townships and rural areas’ retail trade sector, by providing them with financial and non-financial support to the value of up to R100 000 each.
“The fact that people are prepared to travel from Asia and other regions of the world to set up businesses, including spaza shops in our townships and rural areas, is indeed evidence that there are a lot of attractive business opportunities in these areas. They are successful because there is a lot of money circulating in the townships and rural areas. It is up to us to establish successful businesses in order to provide the people with what they require to buy with the money,” said Ramajoe.
He added that spaza shops have a huge potential to change the economies of the townships and rural areas, and that is what people from other countries have realised, hence their great trek to the South Africa.
Ramajoe expressed disappointment that the majority of the spaza shops that have registered with the Moqhaka Local Municipality, which is part of the requirement for accessing the fund for the South Africans, were foreign nationals.
“It means our people have not heeded the messages, and are not taking this thing of registering their spaza shops seriously,” said Ramajoe
Enquiries
Bongani Lukhele – Director: Media Relations
Tel: (012) 394 1643
Mobile: 079 5083 457
WhatsApp: 074 2998 512
E-mail: BLukhele@thedtic.gov.za
Issued by: The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition and the Department of Small Business Development.
X: @the_dtic
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedti?mibextid=ZbWKwL
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thedtic
Website: https://www.thedtic.gov.za/
OR
Siphe Macanda – Director: Communication Management
Department of Small Business Development
Mobile and WhatsApp: 082 355 2399
E-mail: SMacanda@dsbd.gov.za
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DepartmentOfSmallBusinessDevelopment
X: @DSBD_SA
Website: https://www.dsbd.gov.za/
Share this:
