Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane says growing township economies through supporting entrepreneurs is one step closer to getting rid of tenderpreneurs as well as decreasing the number of people relying on the state for income.
He visited the eKasiLab in Mamelodi, east of Pretoria, on Wednesday. The township based program affords young people between 18 and 35 space to innovate and develop businesses for the local community.
The hub supports the entrepreneurs until commercialisation of their businesses. The eKasiLab is part of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) innovation hub.
Maimane says small businesses should be the backbone of the economy.
“What’s great about this is that because they’re not just tendering for government they can deliver services to an entire community rather than in fact being narrowly focused on government tenders. So we are not here to reproduce tenderpreneurs, we are simply here to create a culture where entrepreneurs can compete for business.”
