About 200 entrepreneurs in and around the City of Polokwane gathered at Jack Botes hall on last week for the opening of the city’s Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW).
The GEW is a gathering of innovators and entrepreneurs who launch start-ups that bring ideas to life, drive economic growth and stimulate socio-economic development. Each November, a week is dedicated to inspiring millions of people from more than 160 countries through local, national and global activities designed to help them unleash their potential as entrepreneurs and innovators.
Welcoming them to the week-long event, Polokwane Executive Mayor Thembi Nkadimeng advised entrepreneurs to seek business ventures that are unique.
Nkandimeng says, “I get irritated when a person comes to me and says I want a tender, I want people knocking on my door seeking assistance to grow their business”.
“There is no farm that plants and sell flowers around Polokwane. Each weekend Jake Botes Hall is booked and there is a need for decoration, flowers that are sold to local entrepreneurs who are in the deco business are not from in Polokwane,” she adds.
Nkandimeng says the City is firmly behind the empowerment of entrepreneurs, “We can gladly assist you if you have a business of this kind and you need to enter the market with big retailers”.
The initiative has been widely welcomed by entrepreneurs such as Rosemary Morero who sews shoes and traditional bracelets, “I loved sewing from an early age, but the challenge is to get into the market and compete with big retailers,” she says.
Mosima Mbedzi who designs accessories such handbags and traditional bracelets also expressed the same sentiments as Morero.
However, Nkadimeng has assured she will help such entrepreneurs to enter the market and run big cooperatives.
