Aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners gathered in Khayelitsha last week to hear advice on how to nurture fledgling enterprises and strengthen those that are already well established.
The Khayelitsha Green Summit was held at the Isivivana Centre on Friday. It was organised by Khaltsha Spaces, a non-profit company established this year to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses.
The seminar touched on how entrepreneurs can navigate the obstacles they face when starting a business.
It also looked at how brands could grow by solving operational problems and maintaining services levels, said Khwezi Mayambela, a Khaltsha Spaces director.
Khaltsha Spaces wanted to explore how Khayelitsha’s smal businesses could tap support from government and investors and grow the township’s economy, he said.
“The goal is to bring together entrepreneurs. The summit also addressed tactics to be utilised by all service providers to keep their company functioning and to provide the best possible service to their customers.
“We should all try to be more like corporate firms, with the highest quality of service and constant growth/improvement of our brands, rather than just being small-business minded.We believe that, especially in Khayelitsha, there is always an opportunity for improvement.
“The township has a great deal of potential to succeed in a variety of fields. To establish and maintain control over our economic circle, we need to work together and support each other’s enterprises.
“As Khayelitsha young adults, we want to make a huge difference in all African businesses, but it all starts with our local community, and we want to make a huge impact on our economy by providing systems and network platforms that connect all African businesses.”
Khaltsha Spaces sought to bring Africa together for the sake of the future, Mr Mayambela said.
Founder and managing director of Iyeza Health, Sizwe Nzima, told how he had grown his business.
He said it was critical that business owners be on the ground to gather data about the type of business they wanted to venture into and not rely on the data provided on the internet.
In-depth research was vital to help businesses find various ways to penetrate the market, he said.
Small businesses should go big on branding to promote their offerings, he said.