Female township entrepreneurs empowered through Gauteng enterprise development programme

A group of women from Soweto, Tembisa and Mamelodi graduated from the Gauteng Township Retail Enterprise Development programme, which aims to empower female entrepreneurs involved within the township retail industry.

A ceremony held at the Protea Hotel by Marriott Johannesburg Parktonian last week saw the 61 women - made up of 18 youth and 43 adults - being presented with certificates of completion. The Gauteng Township Retail Enterprise Development Programme for Women was established in 2017 and is funded by the Gauteng Department of Social Development.

The programme offered training sessions on basic business management for micro-enterprises, and one-on-one mentorship sessions to address the unique challenges faced by township retail businesses. It also provided capital support by providing business tools including tablets, airtime vending machines, South African Revenue (SARS) compliance and card swiping machines, and stock worth R10,000.

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Pumulani Ncube from Beehive Capital, the company that facilitated the programme, commented: “Having such opportunities to impart skills in order to grow the township economy is vital. These skills will be used to grow businesses and to help identify other revenue streams that the 61 women can exploit to grow their revenue.”