Western Cape Economic Opportunities Minister Alan Winde, together with Absa Bank, on Monday launched the second phase of the province’s Emerging Business Support Programme at the Century City Convention Centre, in Cape Town.

Winde encouraged emerging entrepreneurs from across the Western Cape to apply for the accredited business skills training programme, which would give 1 000 small and medium-sized businesses the opportunity to complete the programme over the next six months.
 
“Entrepreneurs are the engine room of our economy, employing over 500 000 people in the Western Cape. As government, it is our role to create the environment for businesses to add jobs to the economy,” he said.

He added that, in the past seven years, the Western Cape government assisted over 36 000 entrepreneurs to start businesses, adding that, this financial year, the Integrated Economic Development Services would invest over R40-million in interventions such as the Emerging Business Support Programme.

“We’re thrilled to have private sector partners such as Absa, who are collaborating with us for the second year, to give businesses the tools they need to grow,” Winde stated.
 
The two-day course would begin in July and run until December. Workshops would take place in the Cape Metro, the West Coast, the Cape Winelands, Eden and the Overberg.
 
The course would cover business strategy, operations strategy and financial literacy development.
 
More than 1 000 entrepreneurs participated in the first phase of the programme. 
 
“At Absa we recognise the vital role small businesses play in economic growth and job creation, and we are delighted to be partnering with the Department of Economic Development and Tourism in the Western Cape Project,” said Absa Western Cape MD Doug Walker.

He noted that small businesses often struggled to penetrate existing markets, or create new ones, especially when competing against more established and bigger business.

“As such, Absa is committed to developing sustainable small businesses by linking them into the supply chains of big corporates in both the private and public sectors,” Walker said.