The South African Chemical Technology Incubator, Chemin, has been awarded two significant grants that will be used to enhance training and upgrade its facilities.

The first is from State-owned power utility Eskom’s Development Foundation, which has approved funding of R1 077 070 for the purchase, supply and delivery of chemical manufacturing and laboratory equipment for Chemin.

The funding will be used to buy mixing and filling machines for entrepreneurs and laboratory equipment for the mini laboratories being established in all Chemin centres. The manu- facturing equipment will enable incubator clients to manufacture chemical products, such as cleaning detergents, in significant quantities.

The mini laboratories will be used to test every batch manufactured in the incubation centre to ensure that all products leaving Chemin premises meet South African Bureau of Standards requirements. Chemin will start South African National Accreditation System accreditation during the 2011/12 financial year to ensure that the mini laboratories are in line with international standards for product testing.

The grant will also be used to upgrade the Chemin plant in Port Elizabeth, enabling it to manufacture 500 ℓ of chemical detergents, up from 200 ℓ. This will reduce the need for incubated clients to manufacture a number of batches to meet their orders.

Critical equipment will also be bought for the new centre in East London, such as mixers and filling machines for liquid chemical detergents, powder soap mixers, cosmetic mixers and laboratory equipment to enable clients to test their finished products before distribution.

Chemin has a long-standing relationship with the foundation.

The second award is a Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (Chieta) discretionary grant of R360 000. The Chieta funding will be used this year for new-venture-creation training for 20 Chemin clients, with R18 000 being spent on each client.

The total amount requested by grant applicants for 2010 was R1,3-billion, against an approved budget of R190-million. This amount has subsequently been scaled down to R160-million.

In terms of the Skills Development Regula- tions from the Chieta Discretionary Grant Guideline for Implementation of Discretionary Grant Projects, Chieta awards discretionary grants to applicants for scarce or critical skills development projects in the chemicals industry.

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