The eThekwini Municipality’s Business Support, Tourism & Markets Unit in partnership with ABSA bank is currently running a three months financial literacy training programme to assist traders with financial management skills. The partnership is intended to create a conducive environment for informal traders to access funding.
The Head of Business Support, Tourism and Markets Unit, Mr Philip Sithole says that, this training is part of a criteria the Municipality has introduced for informal traders to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for them to understand the implications of various financial options and decisions and eventually make requests for available funding.
“The eThekwini Municipality has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with key financial institutions to support small and emerging businesses. This will increase access to a broad variety of financial information that will facilitate economic empowerment, wealth accumulation and protection against predatory lending practices,” said Sithole.
“Concepts such as participation in government activities and empowerment have become very common, and yet to informal traders these concepts do not make much sense. They make money but lack necessary skills and some have traded for years but never grow,” he went on to say.
The Municipality wants to ensure that SMMEs are in a position to access finance from financial institutions until they become more dependable. It is also linking them with various institutions to exhibit and market their products and provide traders with conducive infrastructure such as shelters and storages to run their business successfully.
