A government agency is under pressure to use up their budget to provide 120 new businesses with loans every month by April. This was announced in a meeting where young, local entrepreneurs gathered in the municipality's Local Economic Directorate boardroom to meet with representatives from the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) last Thursday.
A government agency is under pressure to use up their budget to provide 120 new businesses with loans every month by April. This was announced in a meeting where young, local entrepreneurs gathered in the municipality's Local Economic Directorate boardroom to meet with representatives from the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) last Thursday.
The meeting nearly flopped, however, because the NYDA experts didn't pitch up due to transport problems. Fortunately, Sicelo Gqeke from the Makana Youth Advisory Centre managed to steer the meeting back on track and advise the 20 aspiring entrepreneurs about starting their own businesses. Gqeke said the agency was under pressure to use money available for young business people every month by April, before the end of this financial year.
"From this month until April we are expected to help 120 businesses to get funding and 250 to be registered in the PE branch," he said. The Port Elizabeth branch oversees nine Youth Advisory Centres in areas near the city. "There will also be training seminars, where we will train you how to manage and market your businesses," Gqeke said.
He then explained how the agency works and what services they offer, focusing on the Start-up Voucher Service, which helps young people with business registration, feasibility studies, business plans and micro finance. After a business has been assessed, entrepreneurs can then apply for micro finance from the agency between R 1 000 and R 101 000, Gqeke said. This comes in the form of a loan to be paid back over six years.
"One of the most important things when people apply for funds is to bring along quotations so we can see what you are going to do with the money," he said.
Those who had unregistered businesses were given registration forms to fill in and return the following day, so they could be sent to Port Elizabeth for assessment. Gqeke then promised that agency officers would be in Grahamstown on 2 February to help with financial applications. He urged the entrepreneurs to be strong and positive about their businesses and said they should come for follow-up visits to his office for further assistance.
Speaking to Grocott's Mail afterwards, Feziwe Jonas, who owns Lindokuhle Hair Salon in Beaufort Street, said she wanted funds to buy new equipment to help her give the best service in town. "I bought cheap equipment because I used the small amount I had to buy it," she said.
"I would also like to get better premises because my business is currently situated in a small and invisible space."
Another entrepreneur, Siyabonga Saki runs a garden services company with his father, brother and a friend and said that their company could employ more people if they could get more machines.
"Sometimes it takes us two days to finish one job because we have only two machines and some premises like churches and schools are big," Saki said. If they could get funding from the agency they would also be able to advertise their business, because they currently use word-of-mouth to market it, he said.
