Women in Business Programme continues amid COVID-19 pandemic

STATEMENT BY THE CITY’S MAYORAL COMMITTEE MEMBER FOR ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES AND ASSET MANAGEMENT, ALDERMAN JAMES VOS

In the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, the City of Cape Town has found innovative ways to continue with its training for the Women in Business Programme participants.

The City-funded programme, which is facilitated by The Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi), is a flagship programme which is specifically aimed at providing strategic support and developing the capacity of female entrepreneurs in Cape Town.

Today, as the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management, I participated in a virtual session during the lockdown period with the Women in Business participants of the programme to observe the training being done remotely by the facilitator. I am pleased to announce that CiTi is finding innovative ways to continue training amid the pandemic.

During the 2019/20 financial year, 31 women entrepreneurs took part in this programme.

The successful implementation of the innovative training solution has resulted in a higher demand for the programme, which is why I motivated for aditional funding to provide more training opportunities for women. I am delighted to confirm that the Mayoral Committee has approved and the City will make the training available to 90 additional beneficiaries this year.

I feel honoured to have met so many phenomenal women entrepreneurs who have been a part of this programme including:

• Rafeeqah Galant, owner of Echo Ledge Media, a full content production studio providing services in content strategy, script development and writing, production in video, animation, graphics, photography and voice related content.
• Chantelle Goliath who owns Milli Distributions (Pty) Ltd – a company which imports the first of its kind sanitary napkins called the Glory pad. They currently distribute their product to 375 Clicks stores nationwide.
• Babalwa Jonga, the owner of Khona Communications, which is an Integrated Marketing Communications Agency.
• Thato Binyane, a social entrepreneur and owner of Virtueda Systems, which provides services like Cyber Security, Cloud, Communication, Connectivity, Managed Services, Hardware and Software supplies.

CiTi is a strategic business partner of the City’s department of Enterprise and Investment and it works with government, business and society to promote the inclusive growth of the digital economy.

The Women in Business Programmes creates a supportive space for women entrepreneurs to gain an in-depth hands-on experiential learning experience of tech tools available to aid in the growth and development of their businesses.

The programme provides entrepreneurs with a platform to implement effective systems and processes through the deployment of tech products and services that enable growth, sustainability and the room to scale.

During the programme women business owners are introduced to an extensive range of powerful online and digital programmes and platforms to support their business activities.

I am very pleased that our business partners are finding innovative ways to continue services during these difficult times. This will ensure industry readiness and assist with the City’s economic recovery plan.