Mams Radio 92.9 receives funding for business recovery

Source: www.pexels.com

Mams Radio, like small businesses, was not insured when the lootings left the station in a compromised state.

“The lootings broke our hearts. We experienced huge loss, but the worst was human capital because we had to let go of more than 12 people while we were trying to recover and bring the station back to operation. We had already been having a hard time with the Covid-19 lockdown regulations, so the lootings just added salt to the wound. The station was badly ransacked and we lost a lot of expensive equipment” says Sam Mfaladi, Mams Radio station director.

The unrest negatively affected the informal business sector with the expectation of small and medium-sized businesses, which contribute to more than 18% of employment in this country, never re-opening again and those that would remain in business would have a difficult time keeping their doors open.

“Seriti Institute’s intervention is remarkable for businesses that were affected by the lootings. This grant affords us an opportunity to create and maintain jobs, buy essential the required production and broadcast equipment which means that our community will benefit from receiving valuable and informative content. We are licenced and with promise of curbing issues of drugs, crime, poverty, abuse and HIV/Aids amongst the others, so Seriti’s contribution in this regard, is immeasurable”, said Mfaladi.

“We are excited to be allocating over R2m in the next week to help businesses get back on their feet. This is a small portion of the grant which is why we would like to encourage all small businesses that were impacted by the lootings to apply for the grant. Small businesses have been under immense pressure since the advent of Covid-19 and the unrest has certainly not helped. With this grant, small businesses have an opportunity to re-open, be more sustainable and to contribute to South Africa’s economy again” notes Juanita Pardesi, CEO at Seriti Institute.