Small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs around Uitenhage will no longer have to travel to Port Elizabeth to access a basket of business services.
The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and government stakeholders opened an Enterprise Development Centre at the Uitenhage Science Centre on Monday.
The facility will provide a basket of services including internet access for businesses, networking, and one-on-one consultations to help entrepreneurs start or grow their businesses.
Speaking at the briefing Executive Mayor, Athol Trollip said opening an enterprise centre will give small informal businesses an opportunity to finally form part of the formal business sector.
"We need to see outcomes, we need to see people moving into the mainstream economy, who have been kept out of the mainstream economy for years because of prejudice and apartheid. This is focussed primarily at people who live in an informal sector, who have been kept out of the formal sector to try and get small businesses to become part of the mainstream economy in Nelson Mandela Bay," he said.
Rosedale and kwaLanga PR ward councillor, Georgen Miggels, said it will also assist in educating small business owners on how to grow their businesses into medium enterprises.
"People are selling stuff but they don't know how to do it and how to grow their businesses. This will create an apportunity for them to come learn get information on how to grow their small businesses," he said.
