The pilot joint initiative between the National Arts Festival, Rhodes Investec Business School (RIBS) and Makana Municipality has given local small, micro and medium enterprises an opportunity to succeed as entrepreneurs at this year’s Festival.
The pilot joint initiative between the National Arts Festival, Rhodes Investec Business School (RIBS) and Makana Municipality has given local small, micro and medium enterprises an opportunity to succeed as entrepreneurs at this year’s Festival.
RIBS Director, Prof Owen Skae said that the partnership built capacity and worked well. Workshops were presented by RIBS and facilitated by Skae and full time PhD candidate at RIBS, Macdonald Kanyangale.
Skae said “Festival CEO Tony Lankester and Director Ismail Mahomed came in during the workshops and spoke to them about real tangible business ideas,” to fit the Festival’s needs.
He said that training and skills need to be made available to people and partnering with other stakeholders can assist in job creation – it is not that there is a lack of opportunities.
“Entrepreneurs are not born, they can be made if we want to address challenges of job creation,” he emphasised.
They also asked the entrepreneurs to engage with them after the Festival so they can see what to do better next time.
One of the entrepreneurs, Nomkhitha Gysman who ran a kiosk at the Rhodes Jan Smuts Residence during the National Arts Festival and the Schools Festival said she has learned a lot about running her own business.
The kiosk acted as a convenient store stocking snacks, basic over-the-counter medication and toiletries, cigarettes and airtime.
“Cigarettes, especially loose ones, proved to be popular,” Gysman said. She said she was grateful for the venue, but did not do so well due to various reasons such as difficulty in locating the kiosk and beverages and snacks competing with the in-house vending machines.
She noted she could improve on the next time round, such as allocating a budget for advertising and marketing as many people were not aware of the kiosk or its location. She said she invested in a banner to advertise the business.
“I feel it was not enough. I needed to erect information signs pointing to the location of the kiosk or place a daily advert in Cue and in the booking kits as an additional service offered to guests staying at Rhodes,” Gysman said.
The way forward for Gysman is to enquire about other conferences, festivals or places that are located away from town, where her business can be provided with other opportunities.
“This initiative worked where they supported us financially, let alone we need to refund the funding, but that gives them a chance to help other upcoming entrepreneurs.”
She believes that a business idea requires creativity and a vision to succeed. Skae said the training and skills need to be made available to people and partnering with other stake holders can assist in job creation and it is not that there is a lack of opportunities.
“I hope it will be a permanent fixture on the National Arts Festival as the entrepreneurs can take these skills and apply them to other festivals and within the Grahamstown community,” Skae said.
