Photo by: Reuters
The Entrepreneur Internship Programme (EIP), a capacity building programme supported by South African mining company Anglo American’s enterprise development arm Zimele, has created 63 jobs this year through 27 start-up and early-stage businesses.
This was a significant increase from the six jobs created through the EIP in 2013, while average turnover growth exceeding 3 000% was achieved. In the project’s second phase, which started in 2014, a total of 57 jobs were created and an average turnover growth of 52% was achieved.
The jobs were created in sectors such as construction, engineering, business services, technology, textiles, energy, green technology, logistics and mining.
"What makes this programme powerful is the fact that start-up and early-stage businesses in sectors beyond mining were selected. We have an urgent need to decrease unemployment and increase job creation. Anglo’s EIP shows how big business can get involved in providing the right support to high-potential entrepreneurs and accelerate economic momentum,” Aurik Investment Holdings CEO Pavlo Phitidis commented.
He added that the small and medium-sized business sector was the primary environment in South Africa where job creation could take place at scale.
“Big business is under pressure to cut jobs, the public sector system is already bloated and, with our growth rate down to 1.4%, retrenchments across the board are on the cards,” said Phitidis.
“But we can fix our ailing economy – one entrepreneur at a time,” he enthused.
The EIP was conceptualised as a bespoke business mentorship programme by Aurik and Anglo’s supply chain executives.