Boosting small business a priority

MONDAY APRIL 03 2017 SMALL emerging businesses will be given a leg up with the City of Cape Town’s initiative to give them a chance to gain the necessary experience and to grow their financial standing.

This will help them compete for bigger, more technical projects when the time comes, mayoral committee member for finance Johan van der Merwe said.

The city’s community-based supplier programme, which applied to bids of less than R30 000, was aimed to establish less onerous requirements in the procurement process. Strong oversight over the spending of public money on goods and services would still apply. The city expected this initiative to make a positive contribution to job creation. The city had established a central supplier database (CSD) walkin centre at its Cape Town Civic Centre offices which helped potential suppliers interested in registering. Vendors could visit the walk-in centre for more information.

Van der Merwe said a community-based project referred to bids for goods and services allocated in a specific ward. Sub-council managers would identify and confirm the locality and domicile of all community-based suppliers within their jurisdiction and invite them to submit their application to become vendors. These vendors were verified on the master supplier database maintained by the supply chain management department.

Procurement of services such as area cleaning, general maintenance, laundry services, waste removal and the provision of hygienic services would be suitable to these emerging micro-enterprises. – ANA