City’s SMME COVID-19 Toolkit receives global recognition for supporting business

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

I am delighted that the City of Cape Town Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME) COVID-19 Toolkit will feature at the ‘Cities Against COVID-19 Online Global Summit’ hosted in Seoul, Korea, from 1 June to 5 June, as a best practice model for workplace readiness.

 The COVID-19 pandemic has made its presence felt on the economy and local businesses. To respond to this, the City’s Enterprise and Investment Department created a limited edition SMME COVID-19 Toolkit, filled with the essentials to help get businesses back to work after the lockdown period. This is to assist businesses in combating the spread of COVID-19 and ensuring the health and safety of employees and customers. It fills me with joy that this initiative received global recognition and will be used as an example of best practice for cities around the world.

We received over 3 000 applications from all over the city and have started the distribution process. The toolkit distribution points are chosen according to the proximity of the applicants’ business addresses provided. This week I assisted the officials with the distribution of toolkits in various locations across the city including Gugulethu, Milnerton, Kuilsriver and Bellville. Next week we will be assisting in Khayelitsha, Plumstead and Mitchells Plain.

I also visited several factories including the  ZipGrip factory situated in the Airport Industria to deliver toolkits. ZipGrip is a polly bag manufacturing company and supplies products to the medical and agri-business sectors. Their clients include some of the biggest retailers in South Africa.

The uptake of the toolkit applications and ensuing gratitude received from the business fraternity on various social media platforms and emails in Cape Town has been phenomenal. These toolkits are only available to businesses who applied during the application period via the www.investcapetown.com portal. Those businesses who did not receive a toolkit, will still have the opportunity to receive support services from The Business Hub. Please contact The Business Hub via email business.support@capetown.gov.za for more information or advice on our SMME support services.

As we enter the next phase of our fight against the coronavirus, the actions of businesses to reduce the risks to their employees and customers will be key to determining the fate of our city and our country. Unfortunately, we have seen some businesses within our city becoming infection hotspots, which is something we need to avoid at all costs. Therefore, all businesses have a part to play in adhering to the rules to ensure that we keep the economy open. I therefore call on businesses to implement the necessary health and safety measures as instructed by national government to avoid further negative impacts on their respective sectors. Visit www.supportbusiness.co.za for more information or to download the available resources.

I fully understand that all these measures impose a huge burden on businesses, but there is simply no other option if we are going to slow the spread of this virus and keep our economy as open as possible. As a caring City, our top priority remains to help businesses get back to work safely.

Learn more about the SMME COVID-19 toolkit here.