A rapid incubator, to develop and nurture new and small businesses, has been launched at Upington in the Northern Cape.
The incubator seeks to equip graduates from higher education facilities in the province with skills and support in a quest to make them better entrepreneurs.
In a bid to attract more youngsters in the entrepreneurial field the Northern Cape is pulling out all the stops to keep youngsters off the streets and the scourge of crime, by assisting them with their business concepts.
A graduate Reginald Mazibu says: “This is not just about me and my family, this is a community we need proper leaders, people to set examples and hopefully I can achieve them by becoming the first entrepreneur of this centre.”
The Vaal University of Technology centre will focus on agriculture, mining and the tourism industry.
Mandisa Tshikwatamba, CEO of small enterprise development agency elaborates: “We want to make sure that there is a clear development path towards entrepreneurship. It’s becoming clear now that entrepreneurship it’s a career stream and for us to ensure that we build the foundation we are rebuilding blocks for that creation of the new breed of enterprises and enterprise owners.”
Deputy Minister of small business enterprises, Nomathembu November says: “The real training will help in the problem of young people who are roaming around doing nothing, unemployed with no jobs the only thing there is, is crime.”
The programme is designed to develop the graduates’ viable innovative ideas into small enterprises after eighteen months of training.
