The East London Industrial Development Zone  together with the Amathole District Municipality (ADM) will be launching the Targeted Small, Medium and Micro Enterprise programme aimed at facilitating growth of these businesses with a Construction Industry Development Board grading designation of 2 up to 7.
In the construction industry, SMME’s owned by Black Women, youth and people with disability constitute a greater percentage of the lowest contractor grades in terms of the CIDB grading and for this reason preference will be given to the empowerment of construction enterprises owned by this population group.
“The primary objective of the programme is to provide an operational environment and growth opportunities for SMMEs with CIDB grading designations two to seven  in the General Building and the Civil Engineering classes of construction works. The programme is aimed at developing the construction capacity and also facilitating growth for SMMEs in the construction industry”, ELIDZ CEO Simphiwe Kondlo explains.

The programme also seeks to provide an operational environment and facilitate growth for its participants and further grant support to learner contractors in a form of training.
Since the programme will be implemented within the Amathole District Municipality’s area of jurisdiction, the participating contractors have been sourced from the seven local municipalities of the district. This will ensure that there is a geographic equity between the various local municipalities.

Kondlo added that the organisation has partnered with ADM on this initiative to address the employment challenge facing the region. “The upward shift in the number of jobs created in the region can only be recognised if we provide the necessary platform and support to SMMEs, particularly those operating in the construction sector. This, in fact is the main reason why we have embarked on this joint venture with the ADM”, he said.

The programme is also set to afford SMMEs an opportunity to participate in the mainstream economy.
A pool of 35 contractors will be developed to be able to move two levels up in the CIDB grading and to acquire construction qualifications at NQF Level 4 while within the programme. In addition, contractors will be developed to be able to compete in the open market by the time of exiting the programme.

With ADM being one of the most rural of muncipalites twinned with a high rate of unemployment, Executive Mayor Nomasikizi Konza regards the partnership between the two institutions as nothing short of a deserved break.
“This project for us as the ADM represents a window of opportuinty and as such responds to the core challenge that our people are constantly subjected to, that is, the issue of socio-economic transformation. Furthermore, this partnership is one other way by which we can respond to these core challegnes, as well as taking the necessary steps towards enabling our emerging contractors a chance to compete on a bigger platform. As this year has been declared as that of unity towards giving socio-economic freedom, we are not apologetic when it comes to confronting the tripple colonial challenge of poverty, inequality and unemployment. It is from this view that we boldly embrace the ammunition that this project is affording us,” deemed Executive Mayor Konza.

A briefing will also be held to afford our media partners to interact with the drivers of the programme.